Nineteenth-century France grew fascinated with the local past. Thousands of citizens embraced local archaeology, penned historical vignettes and monographs, staged historical pageants, and created museums and pantheons of celebrities. Stéphane Gerson's rich, elegantly written, and timely book provides the first cultural and political history of what contemporaries called the "cult of local memories," an unprecedented effort to resuscitate the past, instill affection for one's locality, and hence create a sense of place. A wide range of archival and printed sources (some of them untapped until now) inform the author's engaging portrait of a little-known realm of Parisian entrepreneurs and middling provincials, of obscure historians and intellectual luminaries. Arguing that the "local" and modernity were interlaced, rather than inimical, between the 1820s and 1890s, Gerson explores the diverse uses of local memories in modern France—from their theatricality and commercialization to their political and pedagogical applications. The Pride of Place shows that, contrary to our received ideas about French nationhood and centralism, the "local" buttressed the nation while seducing Parisian and local officials. The state cautiously supported the cult of local memories even as it sought to co-opt them and grappled with their cultural and political implications. The current enthusiasm for local memories, Gerson thus finds, is neither new nor a threat to Republican unity. More broadly yet, this book illuminates the predicament of countries that, like France, are now caught between supranational forces and a revival of local sentiments.

The Prynnes have been wealthy landed gentry, but alas no longer. The vision of young Judith Prynne is to rebuild the family fortunes by her enthusiasm and talent to create some of the best hotels and restuarants in the country.

A Pride of Place, the result of a quarter-century’s worth of painstaking research and collection, presents the first comprehensive architectural and historic inventory of the widely diverse and irreplaceable rural residences of Fauquier County, Virginia. Hundreds of photographs and illustrations, each accompanied by informative text, provide a fascinating and helpful overview of the county’s rich architectural heritage.

Since Roy Bedichek's influential Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, no book has attempted to explore the uniqueness of Texas nature, or reflected the changes in the human landscape that have accelerated since Bedichek's time. Pride of Place updates Bedichek's discussion by acknowledging the increased urbanization and the loss of wildspace in today's state. It joins other recent collections of regional nature writing while demonstrating what makes Texas uniquely diverse. These fourteen essays are held together by the story of Texas pride, the sense that from West Texas to the Coastal Plains, we and the landscape are important and worthy of pride, if not downright bravado. This book addresses all the major regions of Texas. Beginning with Roy Bedichek's essay "Still Water," it includes Carol Cullar and Barbara "Barney" Nelson on the Rio Grande region of West Texas, John Graves's evocative "Kindred Spirits" on Central Texas, Joe Nick Patoski's celebration of Hill Country springs, Pete Gunter on the Piney Woods, David Taylor on North Texas, Gary Clark and Gerald Thurmond on the Coastal Plains, Ray Gonzales and Marian Haddad on El Paso, Stephen Harrigan and Wyman Meinzer on West Texas, and Naomi Shihab Nye on urban San Antonio. This anthology will appeal not only to those interested in regional history, natural history, and the environmental issues Texans face, but also to all who say gladly, "I'm from Texas."

At the age of almost 47 years old I find myself travelling South on the M6 Motorway heading towards the village that I grew up in, almost 37 years have passed since I was wrenched overnight from everything I knew On May 16th this year my Parents would have celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary that is, if things had been different The journey is a strange one as I find my mind racing through my memory recalling so many different events both good and bad, Im not scared, its taken me all these years to conquer my fears but I have finally managed it. Firstly I stop at Corley Services on the motorway, the very same motorway that over three decades ago I was trying to rescue my cat Kitty from. I buy coffee and stand in the midday sun chatting with three of my closest friends as we eat our freshly prepared picnic, they are 100% behind me with the book and are all excited about reading the final draft. On we go and before long I am turning the car right into Shakespeare Avenue where I pull the car over to the side of the road so that I can take a photograph of the street name, I then coast the car slowly down the road with my eyes darting in every direction trying to absorb everything until they come to rest upon the house where my story began when I was only 2 years old. Further on down the road past Bonnies old house, my Great Auntie Pennys and Great Uncle Edwins old place and then Cleggys old house until I reach the place where my little friend Maddie breathed her last breath

When tragedy strikes a family, their lives are never the same again... The Pride of Polly Perkins is a captivating saga of a warm Liverpudlian family hit by illness, and a nostalgic look back at the communities of yesteryear, from much-loved author Joan Jonker. Perfect for fans of Cathy Sharp and Katie Flynn. At the age of fourteen, happy-go-lucky Polly Perkins faces untold sadness when her beloved father is diagnosed with tuberculosis. As Tommy's stay in hospital turns from weeks into months, Polly's mother, Ada, becomes increasingly anxious as to how she will make ends meet. In an attempt to help out, Polly takes a job as a flowerseller, and when she sells a buttonhole to Charles Denholme, a member of the Liverpool gentry, she sets in motion a chain of events that changes her life forever... What readers are saying about The Pride of Polly Perkins: 'Joan Jonker is the best writer of good, old-fashioned story telling' 'This has to be one of the best books I have ever read. It brings out a mixture of emotions all in one book: tears, joy and above all laughter. I could not put it down. I would recommend it to anyone'