The Peopling of Britain: The Shaping of a Human Landscape - Linacre Lectures (Hardback)

Paul Slack (editor), Ryk Ward (editor)

£165.00

Hardback 307 Pages
Published: 07/03/2002

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Synopsis

This volume reviews the way in which, over the centuries, the evolving human presence in Britain has shaped the British landscape and how, in turn, the British landscape has moulded the development of British communities. From the beginnings of human settlement Britain has represented a final frontier for successive waves of colonists, each bringing its own set of cultural adaptations and its own ethos into the landscape. Over time both landscape and culture have matured from raw frontier to settled centre, moulded by the advent of agriculture, towns, and industry, and by streams of migration both within Britain and from outside. The chapters in this book - by archaeologists, historians, and geographers - present an interdisciplinary and accessible account of that long process. Together they trace the various phases of the story, showing how much of it has only recently been unearthed, and how much remains to be discovered.

Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198297598
Number of pages: 307
Weight: 690 g
Dimensions: 242 x 163 x 23 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

I feel sure that the readers of LPS will enjoy this book as much as I did ... At the very least libraries should be urged to acquire it. - Local Population Studies

This is an 'exceedingly good book', as Mr Kipling might put it ... it moves smoothly from the dim and distant past to the relative clarity of the here and now. - Local Population Studies

The contributions are all distinguished by up-to-date engagement with the issues and the literature; they are well written and the editing has been painstaking ... a solid platform for any reader keen to grasp the current state of research on British population history and prehistory. - Landscape History

An inspired idea ... The contributors explain their subject succinctly and lucidly for the benefit of non-specialists ... a coherent and varied survey of the subject, which is up to date and will contain revelations for all readers ... deserves to be widely read and appreciated. - English Historical Review

Includes much to stimulate and inform future research. - Northern History

The contributions are well written and excellently coordinated into one by the Editors, to provide an interesting and useful volume with a somewhat different approach. Particularly important are the 'Comment' sections which link the various contributions into a very readable whole. - The Environmentalist

Perspective is the operative word for this book: it is very fruitful both for pointing up substantive historical issues and for illustrating the respective contributions of so many historical methods from environmental archaeology to demography. - Antiquity

This is a valuable collection of the latest work and a book that will interest historians as well as geographers and archaeologists. - Contemporary Review

Immigration is the day's most dangerous and divisive concern, which makes this cool, studious, apolitical little book all the more precious ... if ever you find yourself reading a Daily Mail polemic on immigration and thumping the table uncontrollably, stretch for this volume and restore your sanity with a long view of history. - Country Life

If anyone is seeking a review of the current state of thinking on the human colonization of Britain...then this book is a must. - Kevin J. Edwards, University of Aberdeen