"Anyone who thinks that issues of cultural property and "repatriation" are simple should read this book. Jenkins elegantly explores the complexity of individual cases such as the Elgin Marbles and of the big overarching question: who owns culture?" --Mary Beard, author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome "The question of how best to protect the world's cultural heritage, and what role museums, nations states, and international bodies play in doing so, or in not doing so, is a vexed one. And in the time of IS, it is an urgent one. Tiffany Jenkins sets out a clear, compelling, and at times controversial case for, and sometimes against, museums as repositories and interpreters of the past in a time of nation building. She argues that we are asking too much of our museums, that we want them to serve narrow ideological purposes of cultural and political identity. There is much to agree with in this argument, and of course, much with which to disagree. That's what makes this book a must-read." --James Cuno, art historian, author, and President and CEO of the J.

Paul Getty Trust "Ms. Jenkins has produced a courageous and well-argued book; the howls you hear in the background are those of the contrition crowd." --The Wall Street Journal "Jenkins does an excellent job of portraying the extreme reactions elicited by repatriation conversations." --Nature "A full-throated argument against the repatriation of arguably stolen art and artifacts. To say that it is controversial is a severe understatement. Yet [.] Jenkins makes no attempt to sugarcoat the past." --The Weekly Standard.