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The Countryside: Ten Rural Walks through Britain and its Hidden History of Empire
Ten walks through idyllic scenery reveal the countryside’s forgotten links to transatlantic slavery and colonialism—a work of accessible history that will transform our understanding of British landscapes and heritage.
The green fields, rugged highlands, and rolling hills of England, Scotland, and Wales are commonly associated with adventure, romance, and seclusion as well as literary figures like Jane Austen and William Wordsworth. But in reality, many of these rural places—with their country houses, lakes, and shorelines—were profoundly changed by British colonial activity. Even hamlets and villages were affected by distant colonial events.
Taking ten country walks, author Corinne Fowler explores the unique colonial dimensions of British agriculture, copper-mining, landownership, wool-making, coastal trade, and factory work in cotton mills. One route shows the links between English country houses and Indian colonization. Another explores banking history in Southern England and its link to slavery on Louisianan plantations. Other walks uncover the historical impact of sugar profits on the Scottish isles and 18th-century tobacco imports on an English coastal port. The history of these countryside locations—and the people who lived and worked in them—is closely bound up with colonial rule in far-away continents.
Accompanying the author on her walks are a fascinating group of people—artists, musicians, and writers—with strong attachments to the landscapes featured in this book and family links to former British colonies like Barbados and Senegal. These companions illuminate the meaning of colonial history in local settings. Crucially, this is not just a history book but a compassionate reflection on the way we respond to sensitive, shared histories which link people across cultures, generations, and political divides.
The green fields, rugged highlands, and rolling hills of England, Scotland, and Wales are commonly associated with adventure, romance, and seclusion as well as literary figures like Jane Austen and William Wordsworth. But in reality, many of these rural places—with their country houses, lakes, and shorelines—were profoundly changed by British colonial activity. Even hamlets and villages were affected by distant colonial events.
Taking ten country walks, author Corinne Fowler explores the unique colonial dimensions of British agriculture, copper-mining, landownership, wool-making, coastal trade, and factory work in cotton mills. One route shows the links between English country houses and Indian colonization. Another explores banking history in Southern England and its link to slavery on Louisianan plantations. Other walks uncover the historical impact of sugar profits on the Scottish isles and 18th-century tobacco imports on an English coastal port. The history of these countryside locations—and the people who lived and worked in them—is closely bound up with colonial rule in far-away continents.
Accompanying the author on her walks are a fascinating group of people—artists, musicians, and writers—with strong attachments to the landscapes featured in this book and family links to former British colonies like Barbados and Senegal. These companions illuminate the meaning of colonial history in local settings. Crucially, this is not just a history book but a compassionate reflection on the way we respond to sensitive, shared histories which link people across cultures, generations, and political divides.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published June 11, 2024
17 people are currently reading
4120 people want to read
About the author
Corinne Fowler
18 books27 followersCorinne Fowler is Professor of Colonialism and Heritage. She specialises in colonial history, decolonisation and the British countryside’s relationship to Empire. Her most recent book is Green Unpleasant Land: Creative Responses to Rural England’s Colonial Connections Peepal Tree Press, 2020). Her forthcoming book is The Countryside: Ten Walks Through Colonial Britain (Penguin Allen Lane, 2023).
Professor Fowler directed a child-led history and writing project called Colonial Countryside: National Trust Houses Reinterpreted (2018-2022, Heritage Lottery and Arts Council). This project was widely covered by the media, including on BBC Radio 4 Front Row, Derby: 300 Years of Making and on ITV News, A Place In The Country: Part 2 - Slave trade legacies | ITV News Central. In 2020 Corinne co-authored an audit of peer-reviewed research about National Trust properties’ connections to empire Colonialism and historic slavery report | National Trust. The report won the Museums and Heritage Special Recognition Award in 2022.
Professor Fowler’s work with the National Trust attracted intense media coverage. There have been over 200 national newspaper articles on the report including in the BBC The National Trust homes where colonial links are 'umbilical' - BBC News, the Guardian I've been unfairly targeted, says academic at heart of National Trust 'woke' row | The National Trust | The Guardian, the Observer, the Telegraph, the Times, the Financial Times, the Express and Mirror. Corinne’s book Green Unpleasant Land was featured in BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, The Rural Idyll?, BBC Radio 3 New Thinking BBC Radio 3 - Arts & Ideas, New Thinking: Places of Poetry & The Colonial Countryside Project and the New Yorker Britain’s Idyllic Country Houses Reveal a Darker History | The New Yorker. Corinne has also written articles for BBC History Magazine and the Telegraph Let’s not weaponise history: let’s talk about shared histories across generations, cultures and political divides (telegraph.co.uk) to make the case for incorporating colonial history into accounts of British heritage sites. She is regularly interviewed for local and national radio including for James O Brian’s Full Disclosure podcast on LBC Radio Professor Corinne Fowler – Full Disclosure with James O'Brien (uk-podcasts.co.uk). Professor Fowler regularly advises institutions on approaches to decolonisation, sensitive histories and the Culture Wars. She receives frequent speaking invitations and has gained an international platform from which she continues to promote compassionate and collective explorations of sensitive histories across cultures, generations and political divides.
Professor Fowler directed a child-led history and writing project called Colonial Countryside: National Trust Houses Reinterpreted (2018-2022, Heritage Lottery and Arts Council). This project was widely covered by the media, including on BBC Radio 4 Front Row, Derby: 300 Years of Making and on ITV News, A Place In The Country: Part 2 - Slave trade legacies | ITV News Central. In 2020 Corinne co-authored an audit of peer-reviewed research about National Trust properties’ connections to empire Colonialism and historic slavery report | National Trust. The report won the Museums and Heritage Special Recognition Award in 2022.
Professor Fowler’s work with the National Trust attracted intense media coverage. There have been over 200 national newspaper articles on the report including in the BBC The National Trust homes where colonial links are 'umbilical' - BBC News, the Guardian I've been unfairly targeted, says academic at heart of National Trust 'woke' row | The National Trust | The Guardian, the Observer, the Telegraph, the Times, the Financial Times, the Express and Mirror. Corinne’s book Green Unpleasant Land was featured in BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, The Rural Idyll?, BBC Radio 3 New Thinking BBC Radio 3 - Arts & Ideas, New Thinking: Places of Poetry & The Colonial Countryside Project and the New Yorker Britain’s Idyllic Country Houses Reveal a Darker History | The New Yorker. Corinne has also written articles for BBC History Magazine and the Telegraph Let’s not weaponise history: let’s talk about shared histories across generations, cultures and political divides (telegraph.co.uk) to make the case for incorporating colonial history into accounts of British heritage sites. She is regularly interviewed for local and national radio including for James O Brian’s Full Disclosure podcast on LBC Radio Professor Corinne Fowler – Full Disclosure with James O'Brien (uk-podcasts.co.uk). Professor Fowler regularly advises institutions on approaches to decolonisation, sensitive histories and the Culture Wars. She receives frequent speaking invitations and has gained an international platform from which she continues to promote compassionate and collective explorations of sensitive histories across cultures, generations and political divides.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 21, 2025
Not an easy read, but a very thought provoking book. I was completely unaware how much the landscape of our countryside and the development of the big estates are so linked to slavery and colonisation.
July 9, 2024
4.5 Lots of history I didn't know, so the author does achieve her purpose.
January 19, 2025
I’ve seen “Straw Dogs” (1971) which is all I need to be aware just how scary the British countryside can be to outsiders despite all the Jane Austen adaptations choking us with their idyllic scenes of picturesque pastel parasols. But this is a wonderfully informative take on connecting the British land directly to the trappings of colonialism. She follows the money!
“By the time he [william wordsworth] was writing the letter about his daughter’s Mississippi bonds, his outrage had shifted from inhuman treatment of the enslaved to inhumanity to investors in the slavery system.”
“By the time he [william wordsworth] was writing the letter about his daughter’s Mississippi bonds, his outrage had shifted from inhuman treatment of the enslaved to inhumanity to investors in the slavery system.”
June 9, 2024
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
The Countryside is a frank look at the colonialism of the British Empire and how it casts a shadow down to the present day, written and presented by Dr. Corinne Fowler. Due out 11th June 2024 from Simon & Schuster on their Scribner imprint, it's 432 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
Countryside rambles are so quintessentially English that people come from the world over to visit and experience the stately homes and gardens, the hospitality, and the charm of rural England, and generally never really thinking about the less salubrious history *behind* the wealth and nobility enjoyed by the families who were instrumental in that transfer of wealth from half a world away.
These are actual walks with itineraries which each explore a different facet of colonialism, from the slave and sugar trade in the Caribbean, the East India Company, to cotton & wool as well as the Raj period of British India.
The author writes well, and surprisingly objectively, about what were unquestionably monstrous interactions with the local peoples of the places "civilised" (and resources exploited and stolen) by colonial forces.
This is a layman accessible work, and although written in easy to understand everyday language, it's meticulously annotated and the chapter notes will provide readers with a wealth of further reading. So much of it is depressingly sad and not dulled by the passing centuries.
The routes taken by the author are not specifically laid out (with maps or links, though there are some abbreviated line drawn maps), and it would take a lot of effort to recreate her routes precisely. It's a book for armchair history buffs and students of history. She makes no direct judgements in the text, but the historical events themselves stand as a testament to the appalling capacity of humans to inflict calamity on other human beings for their own gain.
Five stars. Interesting and important, but depressing reading, especially in a modern context.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Countryside is a frank look at the colonialism of the British Empire and how it casts a shadow down to the present day, written and presented by Dr. Corinne Fowler. Due out 11th June 2024 from Simon & Schuster on their Scribner imprint, it's 432 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
Countryside rambles are so quintessentially English that people come from the world over to visit and experience the stately homes and gardens, the hospitality, and the charm of rural England, and generally never really thinking about the less salubrious history *behind* the wealth and nobility enjoyed by the families who were instrumental in that transfer of wealth from half a world away.
These are actual walks with itineraries which each explore a different facet of colonialism, from the slave and sugar trade in the Caribbean, the East India Company, to cotton & wool as well as the Raj period of British India.
The author writes well, and surprisingly objectively, about what were unquestionably monstrous interactions with the local peoples of the places "civilised" (and resources exploited and stolen) by colonial forces.
This is a layman accessible work, and although written in easy to understand everyday language, it's meticulously annotated and the chapter notes will provide readers with a wealth of further reading. So much of it is depressingly sad and not dulled by the passing centuries.
The routes taken by the author are not specifically laid out (with maps or links, though there are some abbreviated line drawn maps), and it would take a lot of effort to recreate her routes precisely. It's a book for armchair history buffs and students of history. She makes no direct judgements in the text, but the historical events themselves stand as a testament to the appalling capacity of humans to inflict calamity on other human beings for their own gain.
Five stars. Interesting and important, but depressing reading, especially in a modern context.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
July 27, 2025
The English countryside evokes a bucolic, pastoral sense of nostalgia, but there underlies a deeper reality: the countryside's relationship to the British Empire and its long-lasting legacies of colonialism, racism, and slavery. Dr. Corinne Fowler, Professor of Colonialism and Heritage at the University of Leicester, weaves together history and travelogue in her book The Countryside: Ten Rural Walks Through Britain and Its Hidden History of Empire.
Dr. Fowler wrote The Countryside to encourage dialogue and openness, the path forward from and “antidote” to culture war, in part due to a 2020 National Trust report she co-authored on stately homes and their connections to Britain's colonial past.
The theme of conversation and openness resonates through this book, a chance to engage with the locations touched, morphed, and built by colonialism through the transfer of wealth from foreign lands.
Dr. Fowler traverses the English countryside alongside a plethora of colleagues as she delves into the past and present interconnections of British colonialism and the country's rural landscape.
Each itinerary explores a different colonial facet, from the enclosure movement; the Middle Passage of transatlantic slavery; and sugar, cotton, and other commerce; to the East India Company and the banking industry.
Her perspective adroitly balances the knife's edge between blithe meandering and polemicism. The author writes compassionately but objectively, even when chronicling colonial atrocities.
The end result offers a clear-eyed but sobering commentary on our past and how it shapes our present and future. The Countryside also perhaps encourages us to reflect on our own unconscious biases and our relationships to the places that mold us.
I'm deeply grateful to Dr. Fowler and Scribner for an eArc of this book via NetGalley.
Dr. Fowler wrote The Countryside to encourage dialogue and openness, the path forward from and “antidote” to culture war, in part due to a 2020 National Trust report she co-authored on stately homes and their connections to Britain's colonial past.
The theme of conversation and openness resonates through this book, a chance to engage with the locations touched, morphed, and built by colonialism through the transfer of wealth from foreign lands.
Dr. Fowler traverses the English countryside alongside a plethora of colleagues as she delves into the past and present interconnections of British colonialism and the country's rural landscape.
Each itinerary explores a different colonial facet, from the enclosure movement; the Middle Passage of transatlantic slavery; and sugar, cotton, and other commerce; to the East India Company and the banking industry.
Her perspective adroitly balances the knife's edge between blithe meandering and polemicism. The author writes compassionately but objectively, even when chronicling colonial atrocities.
The end result offers a clear-eyed but sobering commentary on our past and how it shapes our present and future. The Countryside also perhaps encourages us to reflect on our own unconscious biases and our relationships to the places that mold us.
I'm deeply grateful to Dr. Fowler and Scribner for an eArc of this book via NetGalley.
August 14, 2024
Professor Corinne Fowler's The Countryside: Ten Rural walks Through Britain and Its Hidden History of Empire, brings the history of its empire to the forefront through journeys in rural Britain. For each of the ten chapters, Fowler met with a partner to physical walk through specific landscapes and unveil the history of slavery, industry or commerce that made them possible. Fowler's partners came from different backgrounds, but were all creatives be they artists, writers or historians.
The book could be read as a highly detailed travel guide, each chapter begins with a map. For each region, Fowler delves deeply into the history of each space, including that space's attempting to address or ignore its exploitative past.
This book further expands upon Folwer's work exploring the links between National Trust properties and colonialism, which was a popular target of conservative focused culture wars.* America is not alone in grappling with its history as demonstrated through debates and protest about public monuments that misrepresent or fabricate an imagined past. May all works focused on these issues be so accurate and thoughtful as The Countryside.
Recommended for readers of history, empire or historical romances looking to better understand the time period.
* see Tim Adams. "I'm not afraid of anybody now': the woman who revealed links between National trust houses and slavery - and was vilified." The Guardian April 21, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/world/202...
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
The book could be read as a highly detailed travel guide, each chapter begins with a map. For each region, Fowler delves deeply into the history of each space, including that space's attempting to address or ignore its exploitative past.
This book further expands upon Folwer's work exploring the links between National Trust properties and colonialism, which was a popular target of conservative focused culture wars.* America is not alone in grappling with its history as demonstrated through debates and protest about public monuments that misrepresent or fabricate an imagined past. May all works focused on these issues be so accurate and thoughtful as The Countryside.
Recommended for readers of history, empire or historical romances looking to better understand the time period.
* see Tim Adams. "I'm not afraid of anybody now': the woman who revealed links between National trust houses and slavery - and was vilified." The Guardian April 21, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/world/202...
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
October 18, 2024
I am a keen walker. Have been since 2020. Walking has led me to ponder many things. One of these things is who generated the wealth to build the many private homes around Britain? I live in a city where the history is tainted by its strong association with the slave trade. What I suspected the author lays out clearly and concisely. I had blamed the Normans for much of the original land grab, still true but the colossal income generated from the ghastly "triangular trade" enabled a minority of wealthy Britains to consolidate William's original land theft. This book deals with this in a thought-provoking way and I learned a lot.
Using colleagues in the broad field of empire history was a great idea and it works really well. I like the vicid descriptions of the natural environment too - i wish i could identify as many plants.
Using colleagues in the broad field of empire history was a great idea and it works really well. I like the vicid descriptions of the natural environment too - i wish i could identify as many plants.
February 12, 2025
This was an excellent book about the not always obvious connection between British wealth, land ownership, titles, political positions and slavery. It was eye-opening to me, and is something I had never thought about much less learned about. The author says it best: “As we’ve seen throughout this book, Colonialism’s influence was not limited to ports and cities. It permeated country houses, islands, coastal hamlets, wool-making villages, mill towns, copper-mining settlements, countryside land ownership and electoral boroughs. We can either address the colonial history of the British Isles or we can deny and dismiss it.”
June 11, 2024
I'll admit, I didn't read the whole book; it is a bit heady for me, though written engagingly and well.
I appreciated the author's challenge to engage with historical events, the good and the bad (which can be relative based on one's point of view), and it was interesting to learn about the role that colonialism did play in the development of British land and housing as we know it today. The author and I may differ politically quite a bit, but there's certainly food for thought in this read.
I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I appreciated the author's challenge to engage with historical events, the good and the bad (which can be relative based on one's point of view), and it was interesting to learn about the role that colonialism did play in the development of British land and housing as we know it today. The author and I may differ politically quite a bit, but there's certainly food for thought in this read.
I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
November 24, 2024
This book was an enlightening read. As an author, Fowler did a marvelous job providing insightful analysis of how the vestiges of colonialism and imperialism permeate various idyllic English rural communities. Her book dismantles the illusion that the British countryside remained uninvolved in the role of colonialization. She does not shy away from the fact that the UK played a huge role in the transatlantic slave trade and the colonialization of many countries, namely India, Jamaica, and many others. Overall, I would rate this book a solid 9.5/10 for its vivid details and imagery.
August 14, 2024
While this was interesting, the balance between what it is and what it wants to be is lacking for me. This is educational and fascinating in its own right that the walking/pathway/route feels almost unnecessary. I enjoyed the learning of British colonial history and how society always tries to shy away from the fact, but I feel as if I was missing something.
September 24, 2025
Academic, dense so not an easy read. Well worth it after first couple chapters! Definitely learned and was surprised at connections between British empire and US history, and naturally, the areas of world being colonized. Walks were also intriguing, serving as relief from serious matter. Recommended if of interest!
July 17, 2025
I really wanted to like this more. I love the concept and the history was very well researched and interesting, but I just found it hard to stay engaged with the rambling writing. I learned a lot and the topics are important, just not the best execution.
October 16, 2024
These were interesting walks, and the topics are really interesting, but I found myself flagging about 3/4 through the book and haven't picked it up in weeks, so...back to the library.
November 3, 2024
I think the book is poorly written. I struggled to read it.
November 23, 2024
A fascinating look at Colonial and slavery connections to places in England.
June 7, 2025
Execrable.
June 25, 2025
cannot recommend enough...
January 3, 2025
This book was not exactly what I was expecting, but it was really interesting. The way the subtitle reads, it sounds like it's more about the rural walks, with a smattering of interesting tidbits about British history. In reality, it is a deep dive into the history of British colonialism and slavery, and the direct economic impact that those things had on small villages and rural areas of Britain through the centuries. I had no idea how many grand country homes were built with fortunes made from the slave trade, and the enslavement of people on British plantations in the Caribbean.
Men who made their fortunes in India and Haiti brought that wealth back, and used it to privatize land that had once belonged to, and been used by, entire communities to farm and grow livestock. This pushed poor people out of these villages and decimated the population in some cases. In Wales, people who manufactured "plains", a basic but durable kind of fabric, made money because that cloth was highly prized by American slave-holders who used it almost exclusively to clothe their enslaved workers.
The author, Corinne Fowler, wrote the book at least partly because of all the backlash she received as being one of the authors of a report published by the National Trust, which criticized the lack of historical context in the presentations and descriptions of so many National Trust properties across Britain. Many people, apparently, don't want to mention the unsavory ways some of these folks made their money. But it is important to remember history, all of the history, as it was. Some of the people who built the grand houses also contributed to the betterment of their communities, establishing schools or charities. To close your eyes and pretend that things didn't happen the way they happened seems so pointless. I listened to this book, and the moments at the top of each walk where she spoke with her companion were amazing for the ambient birdsong alone. But I think this book might be better read in book form, just so you can go back and re-read passages. It can be difficult to write a review because I can't go back and get specific details.
One more thing that stays with me about this book is the fact that there were many more Black people in Britain, in those port cities and their surrounding rural areas, that did business with Louisiana plantations and other places/people who enslaved Black people, than you would ever imagine if you read most British history and British novels.
Men who made their fortunes in India and Haiti brought that wealth back, and used it to privatize land that had once belonged to, and been used by, entire communities to farm and grow livestock. This pushed poor people out of these villages and decimated the population in some cases. In Wales, people who manufactured "plains", a basic but durable kind of fabric, made money because that cloth was highly prized by American slave-holders who used it almost exclusively to clothe their enslaved workers.
The author, Corinne Fowler, wrote the book at least partly because of all the backlash she received as being one of the authors of a report published by the National Trust, which criticized the lack of historical context in the presentations and descriptions of so many National Trust properties across Britain. Many people, apparently, don't want to mention the unsavory ways some of these folks made their money. But it is important to remember history, all of the history, as it was. Some of the people who built the grand houses also contributed to the betterment of their communities, establishing schools or charities. To close your eyes and pretend that things didn't happen the way they happened seems so pointless. I listened to this book, and the moments at the top of each walk where she spoke with her companion were amazing for the ambient birdsong alone. But I think this book might be better read in book form, just so you can go back and re-read passages. It can be difficult to write a review because I can't go back and get specific details.
One more thing that stays with me about this book is the fact that there were many more Black people in Britain, in those port cities and their surrounding rural areas, that did business with Louisiana plantations and other places/people who enslaved Black people, than you would ever imagine if you read most British history and British novels.
September 5, 2024
"Unveiling Britain's Colonial Legacy in The Countryside" 🏞️🏠🌳
In "The Countryside" (June 2024, Simon & Schuster's Scribner imprint), Dr. Corinne Fowler leads readers on an evocative journey through Britain's bucolic landscapes, peeling back layers of history to expose the colonial past that shaped them. This 432-page exploration, available in hardcover, audio, and interactive ebook formats, is an eye-opening reckoning of the British Empire's enduring impact.
Fowler structures her narrative around ten scenic walks, each accompanied by a creative luminary and delving into a different aspect of colonialism—from the slave trade and East India Company to the Raj period in India. These rambles traverse picturesque countrysides, bustling market towns, and grand estates, all bearing indelible marks of Britain's imperial past.
The author masterfully weaves historical context into vivid present-day descriptions, writing with clarity, nuance, and an unflinching gaze at the dark realities of colonial exploitation. Each chapter begins with a map and ends with meticulous notes, providing a wealth of resources for further learning.
While "The Countryside" could serve as an unconventional travel guide, its true strength lies in Fowler's incisive commentary on Britain's grappling with its imperial legacy. She examines efforts to acknowledge or whitewash history, sparking contemplation and debate.
This is not a light-hearted travelogue, nor is it a polemic. Fowler lets the facts speak for themselves, and they speak volumes. The routes she takes are not laid out for easy replication; rather, she invites readers to engage with history actively and critically, whether from an armchair or on their own rambles.
"The Countryside" is a compelling blend of history, travel, and social commentary, earning a solid 🌟🌟🌟🌟½. It's a must-read for history buffs, students, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the British countryside and the empire that shaped it. Be prepared for an enlightening, if sometimes sobering, journey. 💭📚🌳
In "The Countryside" (June 2024, Simon & Schuster's Scribner imprint), Dr. Corinne Fowler leads readers on an evocative journey through Britain's bucolic landscapes, peeling back layers of history to expose the colonial past that shaped them. This 432-page exploration, available in hardcover, audio, and interactive ebook formats, is an eye-opening reckoning of the British Empire's enduring impact.
Fowler structures her narrative around ten scenic walks, each accompanied by a creative luminary and delving into a different aspect of colonialism—from the slave trade and East India Company to the Raj period in India. These rambles traverse picturesque countrysides, bustling market towns, and grand estates, all bearing indelible marks of Britain's imperial past.
The author masterfully weaves historical context into vivid present-day descriptions, writing with clarity, nuance, and an unflinching gaze at the dark realities of colonial exploitation. Each chapter begins with a map and ends with meticulous notes, providing a wealth of resources for further learning.
While "The Countryside" could serve as an unconventional travel guide, its true strength lies in Fowler's incisive commentary on Britain's grappling with its imperial legacy. She examines efforts to acknowledge or whitewash history, sparking contemplation and debate.
This is not a light-hearted travelogue, nor is it a polemic. Fowler lets the facts speak for themselves, and they speak volumes. The routes she takes are not laid out for easy replication; rather, she invites readers to engage with history actively and critically, whether from an armchair or on their own rambles.
"The Countryside" is a compelling blend of history, travel, and social commentary, earning a solid 🌟🌟🌟🌟½. It's a must-read for history buffs, students, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the British countryside and the empire that shaped it. Be prepared for an enlightening, if sometimes sobering, journey. 💭📚🌳
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews