Americas cultural heritage is both rich and richly contested. When New Yorkers won their battle to save Grand Central Terminal, they also won the U.S. Supreme Courts decision upholding the constitutionality of historic preservation laws, the Penn Central case, in 1978. This landmark ruling is the lodestar that guides campaigns, large and small, to preserve cultural heritage across all local governments in the United States. The stories in this book highlight how the law functions to decide what is historic and whether or not to save a site with claims for having cultural significance. The authors recount tales about staving off demolition and saving old houses, landscapes, churches, tribal indigenous sites, colonial mansions, art deco improvements and modern buildings. They pose tough questions for the future of historic preservation, both from the pressures of real estate development and the disruptions of climate change. Stories and Laws makes otherwise complex legal issues readily accessible as it walks readers through the landscape shaped by six decades of struggles to define and safeguard heritage of our past for the benefit of the future.
