Interpreting Our Heritage (Fourth Edition, Expanded and Updated)

By: Freeman Tilden, R. Bruce Craig - introduction, Russell E. Dickenson - foreword

Narrated by: Adam Barr

Every year millions of Americans visit national parks and monuments, state and municipal parks, battlefields, historic houses, and museums. By means of guided walks and talks, tours, exhibits, and signs, visitors experience these areas through a very special kind of communication technique known as "interpretation". For 50 years, Freeman Tilden's Interpreting Our Heritage has been an indispensable sourcebook for those who are responsible for developing and delivering interpretive programs. This expanded and revised anniversary edition includes not only Tilden's classic work but also five additional essays by Tilden on the art and craft of interpretation, a new foreword by former National Park Service director Russell Dickenson, and an introduction by R. Bruce Craig that puts Tilden's writings into perspective for present and future generations.

Whether the challenge is to make a prehistoric site come to life; to explain the geological basis behind a particular rock formation; to touch the hearts and minds of visitors to battlefields, historic homes, and sites; or to teach a child about the wonders of the natural world, Tilden's book, with its explanation of the famed "six principles" of interpretation, provides a guiding hand.

©1957, 1967, 1977, 2008 The University of North Carolina Press (P)2021 Tantor

Think I’d Listen to Almost Anything Adam Barr Reads!

Tilden’s insights into the art and mechanics of the discipline of interpretation is thought provoking and thorough. But I have difficulty reading about and absorbing concepts like this. If I can’t paint a picture or little movie of the concept in my mind as I read, I can get lost quickly. Yes, I’m mildly dyslexic and have wrestled with ADD since childhood.
I tried actually reading the book and couldn’t get through it. I need to though. I’m new to the field of historical site interpretation, love my job and want to grow as a guide interpreter. Therefore, I thought I’d give the Audible version a go, though I didn’t hold out much hope I’d fair any better than I did attempting to reading it myself. I’m terribly distracted if a narrator has a predictable, sing-song cadence who doesn’t seem to understand or reflect the meaning of the text.
Mercifully, Adam Barr is an EXCELLENT narrator! His reading style is spot on, conveys the meaning of Tilden’s text with ease and, so far (I’m about 3 hours into the book), has displayed no distracting affectations or reading patterns.
Thank you, Mr Barr! And thank you to whoever chose him to be the narrator for this classic book on interpretation. I’m so enjoying it!