Empty spaces : perspectives on emptiness in modern history / edited by Courtney J. Campbell, Allegra Giovine, and Jennifer Keating.

"This volume began life as a conference on 'Empty Spaces' held at the Institute of Historical Research in London in 2015"--Page vii.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Confronting emptiness in history Courtney J. Campbell, Allegra Giovine and Jennifer Keating -- 1. ‘Take my advice, go to Mongan’s Hotel’: barrenness and abundance in the late Victorian Connemara landscape Kevin J. James -- 2. Amid the horrors of nature: ‘dead’ environments at the margins of the Russian empire Jennifer Keating -- 3. Empty spaces, aviation and the Brazilian nation: the metaphor of conquest in narratives of Edu Chaves’s cross-country flights in 1912 Leonie Schuster -- 4. Looking over the ship railings: the colonial voyage and the empty ocean in Empire Marketing Board posters Tricia Cusack -- 5. Spectral figures: Edward Hopper’s empty Paris Emily C. Burns -- 6. Landscapes of loss: the semantics of empty spaces in contemporary post-apocalyptic fiction Martin Walter -- 7. Surveying the creative use of vacant space in London, c.1945–95 Krystallia Kamvasinou and Sarah Ann Milne -- 8. Urban prehistoric enclosures: empty spaces/busy places Kenneth Brophy

Within the expanding literature on spatial history, comparatively little has been said of the role that emptiness serves as a tool in the construction of historical narratives, as a condition that serves specific societal roles, or as a site of historical memory. This volume considers empty space, emptiness, or 'nothingness' to be an equal, if neglected component in the fabric of physical and imagined space, and suggests that those spaces which are considered empty and devoid of content are just as important to the social production of space and landscape as those which are remembered, celebrated or memorialised.