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Plunder?

How Museums Got Their Treasures

Justin M. Jacobs

$37.99

Hardback

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English
Reaktion Books
01 December 2024
In this thought-provoking new work, historian Justin M. Jacobs challenges the widely accepted belief that much of Western museums' treasures were acquired by imperialist plunder and theft. The account re-examines the allegedly immoral provenance of Western collections, advocating for a nuanced understanding of how artefacts reached Western shores. Jacobs examines the perspectives of Chinese, Egyptian and other participants in the global antiquities trade over the past two and a half centuries, revealing that Western collectors were often willingly embraced by locals. This collaborative dynamic, largely ignored by contemporary museum critics, unfolds a narrative of hope and promise for a brighter, more equitable future

a compelling reassessment of one of the institutional pillars of the Enlightenment.
By:  
Imprint:   Reaktion Books
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 216mm,  Width: 138mm, 
ISBN:   9781789149487
ISBN 10:   1789149487
Pages:   240
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Justin M. Jacobs is associate professor of history at American University. He is the author of Indiana Jones in History and Xinjiang and the Modern Chinese State. He also serves as editor of The Silk Road journal and hosts Beyond Huaxia, a podcast on East Asian history.

Reviews for Plunder?: How Museums Got Their Treasures

"""During the past century or so, an unfortunate dichotomy has developed which divides archaeologists, museums and collectors into two camps. One views them as heroic explorers who rescued long-neglected antiquities that were going to rack and ruin, while the other sees them as rapacious foreign devils grabbing whatever pelf they could acquire for financial gain or imperialistic glory. In this meticulously researched and carefully illustrated volume, historian Jacobs adopts a more balanced, neutral stance which takes a whole panoply of factors into consideration. He convincingly demonstrates that there is no single narrative that can account for the multifarious ways in which archaeological materials ended up in lands other than where they originated, or indeed were destroyed inside the very nations where they were created. Plunder?, rightly posed as a question, provides the reader with a whole range of evidence for complicity from all sides involved in the acquisition.""--Victor H. Mair, professor of Chinese language and literature, University of Pennsylvania"


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