John Darlington – författare

The first survey of the many redesigned and imitation historical landmarks and objects that dot the globe“John Darlington shows . . . it is not just written history that is malleable; it is also history on the ground, heritage in brick and stone, wood and metal.”—Simon Jenkins, Times Literary SupplementWhat happens when the past—or, more specifically, a piece of cultural heritage—is fabricated? From 50 replica Eiffel Towers located around the world to Saddam Hussein’s reconstructions of ancient cities, examples of forged heritage are widespread. Some are easy to dismiss as blatant frauds (the Piltdown Man), while others adhere to honest copying or respectful homage (the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee). This compelling book examines copies of historic buildings, faux archaeological sites, and other false artifacts, using them to explore the ethics and consequences of reconstructing the past; it also tackles the issues involved with faithful, “above-board” re-creations of ancient landmarks.  John Darlington probes questions of historical authenticity, seeking the lessons that lurk when history is twisted to tell an untrue story. Amplified by stunning images, the narrative underscores how the issue of duplicating heritage is both intriguing and incredibly complex, especially in the twenty-first century—as communication and technology flourish, so too do our opportunities to be deceived.

Amongst the Ruins explores the loss of ancient civilizations, the collapse of ruling elites, and the disappearance of more recent communities and their local traditions. Some of these are now sealed under 3,000-year-old peat, others lost to rising seas or sands, and the carcasses of twentieth-century buildings which serve as reminders of the destructive power of war.  These compelling stories of fallen or lost places are brought together through themes of war, climate change, natural hazards, human self-destruction, and simple economics. From the ice of the Arctic fringe, through to the desert landscapes of North Africa, by way of South America’s high mountains and Southeast Asia’s urban sprawl, Amongst the Ruins charts the rise and fall of places and communities around the world, the fascinating characters associated with them, and the important events that punctuate their history. Exploring wide-ranging examples from prehistory to the present day, John Darlington challenges us to recognize past failures and identify what we need to do to protect the cultures of our current world.

Declarative programming languages are based on sound mathematical foundations which means that they offer many advantages for software development. These advantages include their powerful descriptive capabilities, the availability of program analysis techniques and the potential for parallel execution. This volume contains the proceedings of a seminar and workshop organised by the Esprit Basic Research Action Phoenix in collaboration with the Esprit Basic Research Action Integration. Both these groups have been closely involved in investigating the foundations of declarative programming and the integration of various language paradigms, as well as the developing aspects of related technology. The main aim of the seminar and workshop was to provide a forum for the results of this work, together with contributions from other researchers in the same field. These papers cover a variety of important technical areas such as foundations and languages, program transformation and analysis, integrated approaches, implementation techniques, abstract machines and programming methodology. The resulting volume provides an in-depth picture of current research into declarative programming. It will be of special interest to researchers in programming languages and methodology, students of artificial intelligence and anyone involved in industrial research and development.