Destruction of Memory

Robert Bevan is a journalist, author and heritage-led regeneration consultant. He is an architecture critic for national newspapers in the UK and writes for publications internationally.

"powerful" - The Times"a must-read" - RIBA Journal"groundbreaking study of cultural heritage in zones of conflict'" - New York Review of Books"The message of Robert Bevans devastating book is that war is about killing cultures, identities and memories as much as it is about killing people and occupying territory." - Sunday Times"The idea of a global inheritance seems to have fallen by the wayside and lessons that should have long ago been learned are still being recklessly disregarded. This is what makes Bevans book relevant, even urgent: much of the destruction of which it speaks is still under way." - Financial Times Magazine"As Bevans fascinating, melancholy book shows, symbolic buildings have long been targeted in and out of war as a particular kind of mnemonic violence against those to whom they are special." - The Guardian"His narrative is compelling and convincing. This important book reveals the extent of cultural warfare, exposes its nature and, by helping us to understand some of the most terrible tragedies of recent times, give us the means and resolve to fight this evil. All who care must read this book and learn its lessons." - The Independent"Powerful . . . Bevans book serves as a remarkably passionate but even-handed exposition of the neglected architectural heritage of places like Poland, Muslim Bosnia, Armenia, Tibet, Iraq and Cyprus . . . blends together architectural history with a journalist&#39s instinct for a human story" - Icon"Timely and original . . . In this indispensable and beautifully written first international survey of its type, Robert Bevan raises the importance of safeguarding the worlds architectural record." - Building Design"Mr Bevans text is brimming with detail and informed insight regarding the conflicts he covers . . . [an] excellent book" - Art Newspaper"This absorbing study attempts to tease out meaning from these various vandalisms." - The Scotsman"Bevan sets down an astonishing litany of barbarism . . . The most lasting image in this sedulously researched, calmly furious book is that of a Sarajevo librarian, in August 1992, watching the National Library go up in flames. The air was filled with black fragments from priceless volumes: carbonised texts that were legible for a moment in eerie negative, before they turned to dust in his hands. x" - The Scotsman"Passionate . . . original . . . he writes with powerful eloquence." - Neal Ascherson, author of Black Sea and Stone Voices"This is a very important book." - Mortality