Every town has its lore, and Hamburg, South Carolina, was no exception. In its early days, upstate farmers brought their crops to ship or sell and shop for supplies in this bustling waterfront town situated along the Savannah River. Although many accomplishments of historic proportions were achieved in the town, at least part of what we thought we knew about Hamburg may not really be what happened there. In a well-researched historical presentation, Barbara Seaborn leads others through the fascinating past of the former nineteenth century trading town founded by Henry Shultz that existed for over one hundred years. After detailing the town’s inception and early history, Seaborn reveals how, after the Civil War, the nearly empty Hamburg filled again when it became the new home for several hundred freed slaves, and then rose once more during the recovering postwar South, until events more than a decade later diminished the town that would eventually, despite its downfalls, create a lasting legacy. Monumental Legacy highlights the history of a former nineteenth century trading town that became a home for freed slaves, suffered racial and political violence during Reconstruction, and now inspires twenty-first century healing and correction. “Barbara Seaborn has done an accurate historical presentation of the town of Hamburg, South Carolina; its founder, Henry Shultz; and the important events that took place during the one hundred and eight years it existed as a town ...” —Milledge Murray, member and former president, Heritage Council of North Augusta

Built in Agra by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal is a well-known world heritage site. This volume examines the architecture of this white marble mausoleum and its unique features-historical background and evolution; concept and form; gardens; inlay and relief work; calligraphy; and other monuments around the Taj.

"Depicted as a graphic history and informed by newly discovered primary sources and years of archival research, Monumental resurrects, in vivid detail, Louisiana and New Orleans after the Civil War, and an iconic American life that never should have been forgotten. The graphic history is supplemented with personal and historiographical essays as well as a map, timeline, and endnotes that explore the riveting scenes in even greater depth. Monumental is a story of determination, scandal, betrayal-and how one man's principled fight for equality and justice may have cost him everything"--

MAHABALIPURAM became a world heritage site in 1984. This group of monuments (mostly sanctuaries), founded by the Pallava kings, is carved out of rock along the Coromandel coast in the 7th and 8th centuries. It is known especially for its rathas (temples in the form of chariots), mandapas (cave sanctuaries), giant open-air reliefs such as the famous 'Descent of the Ganges', and the temple of Rivage, with thousands of sculptures to the glory of Shiva.

How statues, heritage and the built environment have become the battleground for the culture wars The past is weaponised in culture wars and cynically edited by those who wish to impose their ideology upon the physical spaces around us. Holocaust deniers use details of the ruins of the gas chambers Auschwitz to promote their lies: ‘No Holes; No Holocaust’. Yet long-standing concepts such as ‘authenticity’in heritage are undermined and trivialised by gatekeepers such as UNESCO. At the same, time, opposition to this manipulation is being undermined by cultural ideas that prioritise memory and impressions over history and facts. In Monumental Lies, Robert Bevan argues that monuments, architecture and cities are material evidence of history. They are the physical trace of past events, of previous ways of thinking and of politics, economics and values that percolate through to today. When our cities are reshaped as fantasies about the past, when monuments tell lies about who deserves honour or are destroyed and the struggle for justice forgotten, the historical record is being manipulated. When decisions are based on misinformed assumptions about how the built environment influences our behaviour or we are told, falsely, that certain architectural styles are alien to our cities, or when space pretends to be public but is private, or that physical separation is natural, we are being manipulated. There is a growing threat to the material evidence of the truth about history. We are in serious trouble if we can no longer trust the tangible world around us to tell us the truth. Monumental Lies explores the threats to our understanding of the built environment and how it impacts on our lives, as well as offers solutions to how to combat the ideological manipulations.