The Rescuers: The Remarkable People Who Saved World Heritage

In this concise and well-researched labor of love, Moses, chair of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, explores the fragility of the world’s cultural assets, the existential forces that make them vulnerable, and the motivations of the remarkable people who rescue significant cultural treasures. The book focuses on six strong narratives about actions that saved and preserved cultural heritage (and in one case, an aspect of the natural world): the postwar rescue of artwork plundered by Nazis; the excavation and interpretation of the Scottish prehistoric site Scara Brae; recordings of previously lost American folk music by Black people and immigrants; the revival of the stolen Iraqi Jewish archive; resurfacing Alaskan Indigenous ceremonial objects; and saving the endangered peregrine falcon. Moses introduces readers to a motley crew of well-sketched protagonists and their motivations—often noble, but sometimes for personal profit or fame. She also doesn’t shy away from the intertwined issues of preserving cultural heritage that are particularly trenchant today: appropriation, repatriation, racism, Indigenous rights, and the impact of tourism on fragile sites.