Publisher's Synopsis
David J. Patten has traveled in 56 foreign countries. He is a world traveler, having visited 197 UNESCO World Heritage sites in 47 counties. In this book he includes in-depth articles about 50 UNESCO sites he has visited. Included are sites in North, Central and South America; Europe; Africa; South Asia; Oceania; and the Near, Middle and Far East. His book includes articles on such prehistoric sites as Turkey's Göbekli Tepe and Malta's Tarxien as well as the twentieth-century architecture of Tel Aviv's White City. In-depth articles also cover Earth's largest Buddhist monument, Borobudur, in Indonesia; the oldest wooden buildings located at Japan's Buddhist temple site of Horyuji; Earth's most remote, inhabited island, Rapa Nui, aka Easter Island; and one of Christendom's oldest churches, Palestine's Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Other articles discuss the mission and history of UNESCO's World Heritage program and the relationship between UNESCO and the USA. Also covered are endangered historic sites and the need for continued conservation of archaeological, historical and natural sites. Mr. Patten's book is strongly recommended for those concerned about overtourism, Westernization, industrialization, overpopulation, and the need for the preservation of the historic and natural sites they visit.
