Stonehenge
By: Rosemary Hill.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 242
ISBN-13: 9780674031326
Subjects: Megalithic monuments -- England -- Wiltshire; Stonehenge (England); Wiltshire (England) -- Antiquities; Stonehenge (England) -- Historiography
Description: "Over the centuries, "experts" have tried to discover the meaning behind Stonehenge, While each new theory contradicts earlier speculation, every new proposal attributes a purpose to the site. From bards of the twelfth century to Black Sabbath, from William Blake to archaeologists of the twenty-first century, Stonehenge has embodied a wealth of intention. Was it designed for winter solstice, for goddess worship, or as a funerary temple? While all have been suggested, even "proven," the mystery continues." "Through the eyes of its most eloquent apologists, Rosemary Hill guides the reader on a tour of Stonehenge in all its cultural contexts, as a monument to many things - to Renaissance Humanism, Romantic despair, Victorian enterprise, and English Radicalism. In the end, the stones remain compelling because they remain mysterious - apparently simple yet incomprehensible - that is the wonder, the enchantment, of Stonehenge."--Jacket.
Notes: "First published in the United Kingdom by Profile Books"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: A very short pre-history; title: Contending with oblivion : the antiquaries; title: Art, order, proportion : the architects; title: "Cold stony horror" : the romantics; title: The age of Darwin : in which "everything is explained by geology and astronomy"; title: Archaeology and the age of aquarius; title: The new millennium.