The Necessity for Ruins: And Other Topics Paperback – March 4, 1980

Absolutely brilliant reading by a master of observation of the American sense of place.

More people should read this book.

Civilized passage through the concept of landscape, sorrowful of the heavy hand of politics limiting the joys of the landscape, the oppression now getting heavier of political correctness.

JB Jackson doesn't let down. Of of my favorite theorists.

Entertaining read. Decent amount of research invested into the essays, although I personally would have preferred more sophistication in theory.

J. B. Jackson, the founder and longtime editor of the journal LANDSCAPE, helped readers appreciate, and understand, the modern American landscape--parks and cemeteries, to be sure, but also commercial strips and house types, roads and streetscapes--in all of its marvelous complexity. This short volume contains a number of Jackson's vintage essays. The first and last chapters explain the author's approach to the landscape. Other essays include discussions of gardens and sacred groves, the domestication of the garage, and keys to reading streetscapes. The title essay, "The Necessity for Ruins," begins as a reverie on the importance of public monuments before wryly concluding that history has fallen victim to preservation and the heritage industry. These engagingly written essays are the product of an enquiring mind determined to find meaning in our everyday surroundings..