Changes or innovations which threaten our heritage arouse great hostility in those who want to preserve the past in its entirety. The heritage has become a commodity, a device to sell everything from biscuits to country houses. Fowler skilfully examines the present relationship between the past and the present, analyzing the manner in which we mould and interpret the past to fit our current needs. He assesses the influence of our heritage in the last decade of the 20th century, and with a wide range of examples judges the consequences of the increasing pressures of the heritage industry. As...