Resources about WHS

First published: Sun 12 Dec 2021.

Els Slots

Resources About Whs

Years ago we had a book section on this website. It fell victim to one of the many refurbishments, mostly because its content was quite static. However, books about UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the process around it keep on being published, and I have reviewed a number of them recently in blog posts. So I thought it would be a good idea to revive the “ Resources about WHS ” corner and extend it to include more contemporary media such as videos and podcasts.

Books

The Book section is an extension of the original listings from 2005. Recent notable additions include a new publication on India’s 38 WHS and an ethnographic study of the World Heritage arena. You can sort them by country or year of publication.

The selection will be limited to studies about the World Heritage Process, generic overviews of WHS in countries, or volumes by theme (such as forests, coastal sites). It does not include site-specific books without a WH angle – it would be too much to include every book ever made about the Colosseum for example. It's also not meant to be an all-encompassing inventory, you can do a search on Amazon for that.

I decided to keep the ‘old books’, though you may only still be able to find some of them in your local thrift shop or Solivagant ’s bookcase!

Podcasts

Totally new is the Podcast section . On long flights, bus rides and even lying in bed in the evening I enjoy listening to a captivating podcast about a WH-related subject. I don’t know of any podcast series that solely focuses on WHS, but there are plenty that will prepare you for a visit. Even UNESCO’s WHC is asking for podcasts now for its 50th birthday!

I focused here on the series and not so much on the individual podcasts. To be included they must be relevant to the World Heritage subject of course, but contrary to the book section site-specific episodes are still worth having here. I'd like to end up with a summary of ‘podcast tips’ that you’d want to recommend to a friend. They must be fun or interesting to listen to.

When we collect a lot of them, they could be presented per individual WHS in the future. But first, let’s see what you come up with regarding suggestions. Meltwaterfalls has teased me for long that he has a whole list that he wants to share!

Other media

Inherited from the past incarnation is the section on “ Articles ”: downloadable scientific studies about World Heritage listings. They are still valuable to those who want to read up on the subject. And I added a video section - there’s Joel and Shandos for example who have been vlogging about WHS for several years now, they deserve a mention.

Do you have suggestions for additions to the lists of resources? Or know of even more types of media that have WH-related content? Post them below or in the “WHS in the media” Forum topic.

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Comments

4 comments

Meltwaterfalls 3 years, 7 months ago (Dec 12, 2021)

Oh no I definitely have to find time to do this now!!! Hopefully this is week :)

Michael Ayers 3 years, 7 months ago (Dec 12, 2021)

Good work, Els. I listened to two of the podcasts last night. Paul Cooper's episode on the Inca was really excellent (but very long for some, probably). I also enjoyed the first episode of the UNESCO culture series. I was somewhat expecting that to be a little dry, but I thought it was quite good. Is it only me, or are only half of the UNESCO episodes working (the ones with a time length of 0:00 won't play?)

Els Slots 3 years, 7 months ago (Dec 13, 2021)

The longer ones of the Fall of Civilizations I find really too long, such as the Sumerian episode. But I did enjoy the Aztecs. The shorter ones on the Vikings and Easter Island are easier to handle. I have the same issue as you Michael with the UNESCO podcast, some 00:00 ones that do not play.

Astraftis 3 years, 7 months ago (Dec 15, 2021)

Do you think it would be really too much to include site-specific books, even if not specifically on the WH side? Or is it just that you'd prefer to keep the bibliography as general as possible? Excluding guidebooks and too general works (e.g. "Römische Geschichte" by Mommsen :-P ),I think that probably we would have to keep some threshold just for the most famous sites, otherwise having some key reference, especially for lesser-trodden sites, would be a treat! I already have some titles at the ready... :-) Or even, a "bibliography" section on each WHS page would be fantastic! Besides, I'm really curious about those podcasts, now. It's something I've never delved into, but I'll try to listen to a couple before going to bed, the only moment I see myself able to give them proper attention without the urge of doing something else!