The National Park Service, created in 1916 and now over one hundred years old, has become an immensely popular concept with visitation equal to the national population of the United States every year. Along the way, the Service has picked up a few issues and stresses that endanger the mission of the NPS. Its unique mission is to preserve and protect America's significant natural, cultural, and historical areas for future generations in an unencumbered condition. The areas that are America's Living National Treasures. Those issues need to be addressed to allow the National Park Service to uphold its mission and continue to protect our National Treasures for future generations. This book is dedicated to the identification of some of those issues and presents possible solutions, by capturing the author's experiences over his 35 year career, depicting what working for the Service entails and its challenges. Once the reader has a better feel for work of the National Park Service, there are specific sections dealing with the author's concerns for the future and the changes needed today to bring the Service back to its prime.

Defending National Treasures explores the fate of art and cultural heritage during the Nazi occupation of France. The French cultural patrimony was a crucial locus of power struggles between German and French leaders and among influential figures in each country. Karlsgodt examines the preservation policy that the Vichy regime enacted in an assertion of sovereignty over French art museums, historic monuments, and archeological sites. The limits to this sovereignty are apparent from German appropriations of public statues, Jewish-owned art collections, and key "Germanic" works of art from French museums. A final chapter traces the lasting impact of the French wartime reforms on preservation policy. In Defending National Treasures, Karlsgodt introduces the concept of patrimania to reveal examples of opportunism in art preservation. During the war, French officials sought to acquire coveted artwork from Jewish collections for the Louvre and other museums; in the early postwar years, they established a complicated guardianship over unclaimed art recovered from Germany. A cautionary tale for our own times, Defending National Treasures examines the ethical dimensions of museum acquisitions in the ongoing noble quest to preserve great works of art.

This teaching novel by archaeologist Peter Bleed demonstrates the complexities of contemporary collecting of archaeological antiques and delves into the world of 14th century Japan. Dr. Eric Mallow, a serious gun collector, complicates his life by acquiring a pair of Japanese swords at a gun show. He has no idea one of the swords was the personal weapon of a 14th century patriot, or that the other carries a blood-thirsty reputation as the "Son Killer." Various attempts to get them back complicate his life, from a Japanese politician wants the swords to cement his control over a religious cult to the leader of a Tokyo crime syndicate. National Treasure treats 600 years of history and societies that are worlds apart with accuracy and cultural detail. The book was a Finalist, 2001 Independent Book Publishers Awards, Multicultural Fiction.

Poland, 1939. Facing an imminent Nazi invasion, the decision is made to transport some of the country's most ancient and valuable historical objects to prevent their plunder by the invading army. After a perilous journey that takes them through Romania, France, and England in search of a safe haven, the royal treasures arrive in Canada, where they are expected to remain for the duration of the war. However, the treasures' odyssey has only begun. The war's end marks the beginning of a rivalry between Poland's wartime government-in-exile, operating out of London, and a newly established Communist government in Warsaw. While both sides vie for control of the treasures, their custodians in Canada spirit them away. Over the next 16 years the struggle ensnares the Roman Catholic Church, the RCMP, the federal government, and the Quebec government, led by the strong-willed Maurice Duplessis. All the while, the outcry from the people of Poland, who believe the treasures have been stolen by the very country meant to protect them, grows louder. Canada, 1961. The release of the historic treasures is finally negotiated and they are returned to their native soil. The strange odyssey ends where it began, with the treasures returned to the very castle from which they were removed, after an absence of more than two decades.

This volume gives a detailed account of the parameters for technical standards and measures seeking to protect health and environment

This new edition of Trade in Goods is an authoritative work on international trade by one of the most influential scholars in the field. It provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of every WTO agreement dealing with trade in goods. The focus of the book is on the reasoning behind the various WTO agreements and their provisions, and the manner in which they have been understood in practice. It introduces both the historic as well as the economic rationale for the emergence of the multilateral trading system, before dealing with WTO practice in all areas involving trade in goods. It contests the claim that the international trade agreements themselves represent 'incomplete contracts', realized through interpretation by the WTO and other judicial bodies. The book comprehensively analyses the WTO's case law, and it argues that a more rigorous theoretical approach is needed to ensure a greater coherence in the interpretation of the core provisions regulating trade in goods. This second edition readdresses and moves beyond the discussion of the GATT presented in the first edition to assess in significant detail every trade in goods agreement at the WTO, both multilateral as well as plurilateral. The book is written to be accessible to those new to the field, with an authoritative level of detail and analysis that makes it essential reading for lawyers and economists alike.