Once the playgrounds and raw material for the avant-garde, abandoned places and things – decommissioned military sites, post-industrial spaces, contested and forgotten edgelands – are now just as likely to be seen as assets for entrepreneurs or connoisseurs of the authentically worn-out. This is the age of patina, where the material remains of times past – the fields and factories, test sites, back alleys, machines and statues – are coveted, adored, mourned and commemorated, as well as sometimes despised. Through an exploration of a wide range of recent film, photography, art and writing about place, Landscape as Weapon argues that these abandoned sites are a critical arena for debate about the meaning of space and time under late capitalism.

John Beck is Professor of Modern Literature and Director of the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture at the University of Westminster. His many books include Dirty Wars: Landscape, Power, and Waste in Western American Literature (2009).

Contents:

Introduction

1 What Will Become of England?
2 Dreary Secrets of the Universe
3 The Poverty of Ruins
4 Invisible from Here on in
5 The General Was Rubbish in the End

Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Bibliography