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Title: A good start and a confused ending...
Review: Miguel Tamen's book presents a theory of things in combination with their different cultural impacts for example in museums and collections in 19th century Europe. The book starts very complex but ends without delivering a coherent theses. This is the main critique after my lecture of the book. The chapters do not develop one into another but Tamen's observations and interpretations remain without a holistic concept. In comparison with other studies with a more historical and genealogical perspective (for example written by D. Maleuvre or J. Siegel) Tamen's book lacks - at least for me - of a coherent theoretical insight. Nevertheless: if someone is interested in "thing theory" I can recommend at least the first chapters.
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