Pompeii

Archival Summary & Scope

Alison E. Cooley's second edition of *Pompeii* offers an accessible, updated introduction, incorporating two decades of major new theories and archaeological discoveries since its initial publication. As Italy's third most popular tourist destination, Pompeii continues to reveal secrets through ongoing research. This volume explores critical topics such as the eruption's date, the natural environment, skeletal remains and plaster casts, and Pompeii's popular imagination. Three new chapters delve into the site's popularization, archaeological reconstruction, and understanding its inhabitants. Cooley analyzes how 20th and 21st-century technological advancements and contemporary politics have transformed interpretations of Pompeii over 250 years, including how volcanology has reshaped our view of its final moments.