We are all familiar with the importance of 'progress' and 'change'. But what about loss? Across the world, from Beijing to Birmingham, people are talking about loss: about the loss that occurs when populations try to make new lives in new lands as well as the loss of traditions, languages and landscapes. The Geography of Nostalgia is the first study of loss as a global and local phenomenon, something that occurs on many different scales and which connects many different people.

Introduction 1. Nostalgic Commodities and Nostalgic Resistance 2. The Anxieties and Adventures of Green Nostalgia: Environmentalism after Constructionism 3. Nostalgia across Asia: The Uses of the Past and the Dilemmas of Authenticity 4. Migrant Nostalgias: The Persistence of Loss 5. Nostalgia for the City: Conservation, Mobility and Critique 6. Getting Back: The Forest, Home and the Local Walk Conclusions

Alastair Bonnett is Professor of Social Geography at the University of Newcastle, UK.