The History of the Countryside

Author: Oliver Rackham
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 9781474614023
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 480

Book Description
From its earliest origins to the present day, this award-winning, beautifully written book describes the endlessly changing character of Britain's countryside. 'A classic' Richard Mabey Exploring the natural and man-made features of the land - fields, highways, hedgerows, fens, marshes, rivers, heaths, coasts, woods and wood pastures - he shows conclusively and unforgettably how they have developed over the centuries. In doing so, he covers a wealth of related subjects to provide a fascinating account of the sometimes subtle and sometimes radical ways in which people, fauna, flora, climate, soils and other physical conditions have played their part in the shaping of the countryside. 'One thing is certain: no one would be wise to write further on our natural history, or to make films about it, without thinking very hard about what is contained in these authoritative pages' COUNTRY LIFE

The Illustrated History of the Countryside

Author: Oliver Rackham
Publisher: Phoenix
ISBN: 9781841881041
Category : Country life
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
Oliver Rackham's book tells the many-layered story of the British landscape using landscape photography and a series of photographic essays, describing eight of the author's walks within areas of natural beauty.

The Death of Rural England

Author: Alun Howkins
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415138840
Category : Country life
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
This engaging history of rural England and Wales during the twentieth century looks at the role of the countryside as both a place of work and of leisure and looks at the many crises it has suffered during that time.

A New Face on the Countryside

Author: Timothy Silver
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521387392
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Book Description
Silver traces the effects of English settlement on South Atlantic ecology, showing how three cultures interacted with their changing environment.

Car Country

Author: Christopher W. Wells
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295804475
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 465

Book Description
For most people in the United States, going almost anywhere begins with reaching for the car keys. This is true, Christopher Wells argues, because the United States is Car Country—a nation dominated by landscapes that are difficult, inconvenient, and often unsafe to navigate by those who are not sitting behind the wheel of a car. The prevalence of car-dependent landscapes seems perfectly natural to us today, but it is, in fact, a relatively new historical development. In Car Country, Wells rejects the idea that the nation's automotive status quo can be explained as a simple byproduct of an ardent love affair with the automobile. Instead, he takes readers on a tour of the evolving American landscape, charting the ways that transportation policies and land-use practices have combined to reshape nearly every element of the built environment around the easy movement of automobiles. Wells untangles the complicated relationships between automobiles and the environment, allowing readers to see the everyday world in a completely new way. The result is a history that is essential for understanding American transportation and land-use issues today. Watch the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48LTKOxxrXQ

Born in the Country

Author: David B. Danbom
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801884597
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
Combining mastery of existing scholarship with a fresh approach to new material, Born in the Country continues to define the field of American rural history.

Carnival in the Countryside

Author: Chris Rasmussen
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 1609383575
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Book Description
More than a century and a half after its founding, the Iowa State Fair is the state's central institution, event, and symbol. During its annual run each August, the fair attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage to the fairground to see the iconic butter cow, to ride the Old Mill, to walk through the livestock barns, and to people-watch. At the same time that they enjoy fried candy bars and roller coasters, Iowans also compete to raise the best corn and zucchinis, to make the best jams and jellies, to rear the finest sheep and goats, the largest cattle and hogs, and the handsomest horses. This tension between entertainment and agriculture goes back all the way to the fair's founding in the mid-1800s, as historian Chris Rasmussen shows in this thought-provoking history. The fair's founders had lofty aims: they sought to improve agriculture and foster a distinctively democratic American civilization. But from the start these noble intentions jostled up against people's desire to have fun and make money, honestly or otherwise--not least because the fair had to pay for itself. In short, the Iowa State Fair has as much to tell us about human nature and American history as it does about growing corn.

Snowshoe Country

Author: Thomas M. Wickman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108426794
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

Book Description
An environmental and cultural history of winter in the colonial Northeast, examining indigenous and settler knowledge of life in the cold.

Revolution in the Countryside

Author: Jim Handy
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807861898
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Book Description
Although most discussions of the Guatemalan "revolution" of 1944-54 focus on international and national politics, Revolution in the Countryside presents a more complex and integrated picture of this decade. Jim Handy examines the rural poor, both Maya and Ladino, as key players who had a decisive impact on the nature of change in Guatemala. He looks at the ways in which ethnic and class relations affected government policy and identifies the conflict generated in the countryside by new economic and social policies. Handy provides the most detailed discussion yet of the Guatemalan agrarian reform, and he shows how peasant organizations extended its impact by using it to lay claim to land, despite attempts by agrarian officials and the president to apply the law strictly. By focusing on changes in rural communities, and by detailing the coercive measures used to reverse the "revolution in the countryside" following the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, Handy provides a framework for interpreting more recent events in Guatemala, especially the continuing struggle for land and democracy.

The Story of the Country House

Author: Clive Aslet
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300263139
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
The fascinating story of the evolution of the country house in Britain, from its Roman precursors to the present The Story of the Country House is an authoritative and vivid account of the British country house, exploring how they have evolved with the changing political and economic landscape. Clive Aslet reveals the captivating stories behind individual houses, their architects, and occupants, and paints a vivid picture of the wider context in which the country house in Britain flourished and subsequently fell into decline before enjoying a renaissance in the twenty-first century. The genesis, style, and purpose of architectural masterpieces such as Hardwick Hall, Hatfield House, and Chatsworth are explored, alongside the numerous country houses lost to war and economic decline. We also meet a cavalcade of characters, owners with all their dynastic obsessions and diverse sources of wealth, and architects such as Inigo Jones, Sir John Vanbrugh, Robert Adam, Sir John Soane and A.W.N. Pugin, who dazzled or in some cases outraged their contemporaries. The Story of the Country House takes a fresh look at this enduringly popular building type, exploring why it continues to hold such fascination for us today.