Herculaneum. Past and Future.

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Herculaneum. Past and Future.

(Frances Lincoln, 2011; 352 pages, ISBN-10: 0711231427; ISBN-13: 978-0711231429)

Many of you will be aware that Andrew Wallace-Hadrill’s book on Herculaneum has just been published by Frances Lincoln Publishers – of course you are, because this is the book on Herculaneum that we’ve been waiting years for! Joseph Deiss’ book on Herculaneum came out in 1966, and there’s been no English-language book on this marvellous yet under-appreciated ancient site since. And yet, as anyone who works in the Bay of Naples already knows, big things have been happening at Herculaneum in the last 10 years, thanks to the Herculaneum Conservation Project. Now finally we have a preliminary discussion of these developments set within the wider framework of what can be reconstructed about the site, and you hardly need me to tell you how important and valuable this is.

You may remember that a couple of months ago I was asking for people who work on Herculaneum to contact me. This was because the nice people at Frances Lincoln had offered us to give us copies of Andrew’s new book for review on Blogging Pompeii. In fact, what will follow over the next week or so is not a formal review of the book, since a blog is not really the best format for this, but a series of personal reactions to it from a small number of contributors (see below for a list of posts). Each of us plans to write on a different aspect of the book, on topics that particularly interested us, and to raise issues for further discussion. And we invite all blog contributors to join this discussion (whether you’ve had a chance to read the book yet or not).

For those of you wanting to get your hands on a copy, here are the links to the publisher’s websites in the UK and USA. The book is retailing at £40/$60.

Alternatively the book is available on Amazon UK, Amazon USA and Amazon.it.

Herculaneum. Past and Future. PART 1: General overview
Herculaneum. Past and Future. PART 1: General overview, a response
Herculaneum. Past and Future. PART 2: Excavation and conservation
Herculaneum. Past and Future. Part 3: Early development and topography
Herculaneum. Past and Future. PART 4: The Villa of the Papyri 
Herculaneum. Past and Future. PART 5: Herculaneum's public buildings
Herculaneum. Past and Future. PART 6: Herculaneum and Pompeii