'The debates in which this book engages have been repeatedly aired since the 1980s. Dicks presents a useful review of the literature. And the Rhondda provides an interesting case study . this book makes interesting reading and . is very competitively priced.' (New Heritage)' . a most interesting and fascinating text that illustrates precisely why case studies can be such a vivid means of exploring more generalised issues . This is no mere documentary, however, but a bold attempt to interweave competing constructs of heritage representation with the complexities of economic and political restructuring in the coalfields of South Wales .

This book really should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in attraction development in the UK for, while being about a specific heritage attraction, the stages of the development, together with observations about the difficulties encountered, are redolent of the fraught process through which many such attractions go . an extremely interesting, well-written and provocative book. It is also something of a rarity, in presenting a detailed case study that makes strong connections with wider fields of interest. As such, it is highly recommended to all those interested in attraction planning, development and management.' (International Journal of Heritage Studies)' . I expect that it will become required reading for final year and postgraduate heritage management (and tourism) students, as well as the tourism research community. Thoughtful practitioners will also find much here to stimulate reflection . The text is scholarly, written carefully and well organised throughout.

Its apparent simplicity of structure and coherence belies the careful planning and meticulous research that much have informed its development.' (Tourism Management)'This stimulating book is much more than a story of one heritage site; it is a largely successful attempt to place that site in the context of its local and regional history as well as in the midst of the "heritage debate" and the attendant analysis of tourist practices . The result is a volume that should interest many within and without Wales . this is an important contribution to debates about the heritage industry in Wales and beyond, and should be read by anyone interested in how Wales's past is (mis)interpreted.' (www.gwales.com)The Rhondda Heritage Park is the only colliery building left in a valley which at one time supported sixty-six deep mines. As the only significant public memorial the Rhondda has to its mining industry, it demonstrates the potential of heritage to offer a thought-provoking and accessible representation of local identity and community.

However, critics of heritage point out its pretensions, banalities and failures, and its tainted, entrepreneurial character.In Heritage, Place and Community, Bella Dicks explores these contradictions in the concept and practice of heritage, shows how heritage has come to be adopted as an attempt to regenerate the cultural and economic identity of former industrial areas and discusses the role of heritage in the formation and negotiation of social identity.This ground-breaking book is more than just a study of the development of the Rhondda Heritage Park. Using an innovative theoretical framework, Heritage, Place and Community brings together the economic, cultural, social and political dimensions of heritage production and consumption and seeks to trace the ways in which the study of heritage opens up wider questions of representation and politics.Bella Dicks is a Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. She is the author of several articles dealing with the relationships between heritage, community and identity.