Review
...Worthington has produced a history of Stonehenge that puts it into a contemporary as well as archaeological context...The potent stone circle has been a persistent mnemonic for the expresion of issues between the establishment and the independently-minded populace - so much so that my frequent whimsy - that if they tried to build Stonehenge today, we'd be protesting against it - doesn't seem so whimsical! It is curious why this place has emerged so powerfully and so much more than elsewhere as an arena for agendas on access and public gathering rights, religious freedom and other popular issues...[Worthington] retells the increasing use of police and legislation in the Thatcherian attack on social liberties, in which Stonehenge access suffered as much as unionists and other demonised groups. This attack still resonates, as the current situation at Stonehenge is very much access on the State's own terms... and even the extensive archaeological park proposed for the site would put the monument further from public access. The story told here is a fascinating one, and seems unlikely to be over.
John Billingsley, from his review in Northern Earth issue 99 (August 2004), used with permission.
