"In his extraordinary new book, the cultural historian Peter Miller, gives us a vision--at once synoptic and historical, philosophically large-scale and acutely particular--of conservation as a necessary aspect of what it is to be human. Treading across fundamental issues from memory and imagination via history and politics to ethics and care, he evokes in beautifully argued clarity what restoration and its histories are most fundamentally about. This will be a seminal work for all those thinking about questions of conservation in the material world and beyond."-- Jas Elsner, University of Oxford "Here is a brilliant synthesis of what it means to practice and think about conservation--from the broadest perspectives to the most intimate of details. Peter Miller has distilled his conversations over many years with an enviable range of specialists and scholars into a book that is both timely and beautifully perceptive."-- David Bomford, former senior conservator, National Gallery, London " On Conservation as a Human Science offers a far-ranging investigation into the ways in which the deep materiality of the past provides a counterweight to memory's lapidary transience. In support of a thesis that is as much humane ontology as it is lyric sociology, Peter Miller animates a 'complicated choreography of dead and living, spiritual and material' texts, touchstones, poems, and practices. 'Past-work,' in Miller's hands, is a labor of both reclamation and preparation, because 'conservation' is that thing which makes the world a fitting home for humans.

"-- Campbell McGrath, Florida International University "With this masterful reconstruction of conservation as a human science, Miller aims for a new breed of 'phenomenological conservator' who could inspire new ways of understanding the human condition through studies of the past."-- Glenn Wharton, University of California, Los Angeles "In his compelling new book On Conservation as a Human Science Peter Miller applies his expansive curiosity, richly varied historical methodology, and formidable communication skills to map out the intellectual history and new directions he sees for the conservation of cultural heritage. Having established conservation as a creative form of care and historical inquiry that bridge the sciences and humanities, Miller ultimately lays out an expansive role for conservators in the care needs of our world that faces a grave conservation (in the broader sense) crisis."-- Francesca Brewer, Havard Art Museums.