Our Island Stories
  • Published: 2 May 2024
  • ISBN: 9780141999845
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320

Our Island Stories

Country Walks through Colonial Britain

Pre-order from…
Amazon Apple Books Google Play Kobo Booktopia eBooks.com

A new story of rural Britain and its colonial past, through a series of country walks

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 separately, 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.
  • Published: 2 May 2024
  • ISBN: 9780141999845
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320
Categories:
Share…

Praise for Our Island Stories

This is real, difficult, essential history delivered in the most eloquent and accessible way. Corinne Fowler's case, that Britain has been shaped by its imperialism, is unanswerable, and she makes her arguments beautifully. An important book.

Sathnam Sanghera

This is real, difficult, essential history delivered in the most eloquent and accessible way. Corinne Fowler's case, that Britain has been shaped by its imperialism, is unanswerable, and she makes her arguments beautifully. An important book.

Sathnam Sanghera

This is real, difficult, essential history delivered in the most eloquent and accessible way. Corinne Fowler's case, that Britain has been shaped by its imperialism, is unanswerable, and she makes her arguments beautifully. An important book.

Sathnam Sanghera

This is real, difficult, essential history delivered in the most eloquent and accessible way. Corinne Fowler's case, that Britain has been shaped by its imperialism, is unanswerable, and she makes her arguments beautifully. An important book.

Sathnam Sanghera

This is real, difficult, essential history delivered in the most eloquent and accessible way. Corinne Fowler's case, that Britain has been shaped by its imperialism, is unanswerable, and she makes her arguments beautifully. An important book.

Sathnam Sanghera

This is real, difficult, essential history delivered in the most eloquent and accessible way. Corinne Fowler's case, that Britain has been shaped by its imperialism, is unanswerable, and she makes her arguments beautifully. An important book.

Sathnam Sanghera

This is real, difficult, essential history delivered in the most eloquent and accessible way. Corinne Fowler's case, that Britain has been shaped by its imperialism, is unanswerable, and she makes her arguments beautifully. An important book.

Sathnam Sanghera

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.

Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland

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.

Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland

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.

Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland

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.

Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland

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.

Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland