Our Island Stories

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What to expect

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The countryside is almost sacred to many Britons. There is a depth of feeling about rural places, the moors and lochs, valleys and mountains, cottages and country houses. Yet the British countryside, so integral to our national identity, is rarely seen as having anything to do with British colonialism. In Our Island Stories, historian Corinne Fowler brings rural life and colonial rule together with transformative results. Through ten country walks with varied companions, Fowler combines local and global history, connecting the Cotswolds to Calcutta, Dolgellau to Virginia, and Grasmere to Canton.

Empire transformed rural lives: whether in Welsh sheep farms or Cornish copper mines, it offered both opportunity and exploitation. Fowler shows how the booming profits of overseas colonial activities directly contributed to enclosure, land clearances and dispossession. These histories, usually considered apart, continue to link the lives of their descendants now.

To give an honest account, to offer both affection and criticism, is a matter of respect: we should not knowingly tell half a history. This new knowledge of our island stories, once gained, can only deepen Britons' relationship with their beloved landscape.

©2023 Corinne Fowler (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

This compassionate, measured account - which does not shy away from the inevitable controversy of its subject, but never embraces easy or pat answers - offers an eloquent vision of how imperialism has come to define our green and pleasant land
The Observer
Our Island Stories engagingly mingles chatty or lyrical travelogue with digests of scholarly research. It aims for u2014 and deserves to reach u2014 a wide and open-minded readership
Financial Times
Hers is a remarkable piece of scholarship, for she has delved into areas which have not been previously explored by historians
Eastern Eye
This is an essential and fascinating book because it brings to light, through conversations and nature walks, some of the buried connections between Britainu2019s landscape and historic buildings and its complicated hidden histories. Fowler does not judge or diminish, but enriches and deepens our understanding of this nation
Bernardine Evaristo
This is real, difficult, essential history delivered in the most eloquent and accessible way. Her case, that rural Britain has been shaped by imperialism, is unanswerable, and she makes her arguments beautifully. An important book.
author of Empireland
A detailed and thoughtful exploration of historical connections that for too long have been obscured. A powerful book that brings the history of the Empire home u2013 literally
David Olusoga

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