Editorial Comments Geography and Yesteryear

Have you noticed how we revere what is new? A new scholarly book, a new text book, a new article, a new idea, a new assessment, a new terminology all seem to readily command our attention. This is not surprising for we live in a society which places a premium on what is new; and what is new is considered best. Now such an evaluation is probably legitimate for the accumulative sciences ... mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology. It is eminently not true for art, music and literature; Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt, Mozart and Tchaikovsky, Chaucer and Shakespeare, each speak to us from their resting places.