Customer Reviews:
 An epic April 9, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book really does cover the landscape, it is a fantastic story from cover to cover with so many examples that you really do get a feel for how things developed. I read it in just a couple fo days and regularly dip back into it. Oliver has written a number of good and readable books and this really must rate alongside Hoskins for any budding landscape historian.
Rackham Does It Again! June 30, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Rackham, a senior fellow at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, outdoes himself with this stunning exposition of the English countryside. He displays a grasp of his material both wide and deep, saturated with intuitive understanding and ecological consciousness. Rackham really outdoes himself with this one! Highly recommended. The treatment of Essex marshland represents a particular contribution to the literautre.
And a good read too! September 19, 2000
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In addition to reviewer 1's comments, you will also find that this is a very well-written, enjoyable book, even if you don't have an academic interest in the countryside, like me. I thoroughly enjoyed it for it's illumination of th truth and disposal of complete myths that I had always accepted as given truths about woodland. I have since noticed, for example, that planted trees (apart from farmed forestry) nearly always fail. I enjoyed the book, and my rambles around the UK have been much enriched.
A must have for students of landscape history February 12, 2000
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am currently on a part time certificate course in field archaeology and landscape history at U.E.A. and this book was suggested reading. For non-botanists some of the plant detail can be heavy going but I have never read a more enthralling history text book. Every chapter will be relevant in some way to what you can see now outside your window. I first drew this book from the library but am now buying it to refer to throughout my course. If you are on a limited budget and wondering which text books to buy then this one, particularly bearing in mind the price, is a must.
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