{"product_id":"a-walk-in-the-park-9780099593829","title":"A Walk in the Park","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''A fascinating, informative, revelatory book'' William Boyd, \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParks are such a familiar part of everyday life, you might be forgiven for thinking they have always been there. In fact, public parks are an invention. From their medieval inception as private hunting grounds through to their modern incarnation as public spaces of rest and relaxation, parks have been fought over by land-grabbing monarchs, reforming Victorian industrialists, hippies, punks, and somewhere along the way, the common folk trying to savour their single day of rest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eA Walk in the Park\u003c\/i\u003e, Travis Elborough excavates the history of parks in all their colour and complexity. Loving, funny and impassioned, this is a timely celebration of a small wonder that  in an age of swingeing cuts  we should not take for granted.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is a fascinating, informative, revelatory book … The vast array of knowledge that Elborough disperses in this book will make you look at parks differently … Parks seem an immutable, strangely paradisiacal element of our fraught and complicated urban lives, but the fact that we actually have them, as Elborough demonstrates in this wonderful book is something to be marvelled at. -- William Boyd * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eTravis Elborough is becoming a latter-day Alan Bennett. Let loose in an array of reference libraries, he summons many a curious fact…from the shelves, which makes for a rich narrative…  Alluring detail fills every page. -- Christopher Hawtree * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eAmiable new history of the public park… Turns up lots of interesting, joyful stuff… \u003ci\u003eA Walk in the Park\u003c\/i\u003e is an enjoyable stroll. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eHis writing combines subtle drollery with a fantastical,\u003ci\u003e Monty Python\u003c\/i\u003e-ish strain… We can count this captivating book among the boons they [parks] have granted us. -- Andrew Martin * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eCharming blend of the patriotic, popular and whimsical… Beautifully written. -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eBreezy but fact-filled prose… A worthy paean to the importance of parks to British life. His book is impassioned, informative. -- Daisy Dunn * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eQuirky and delightful. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eTravis is a joyful cultural celebrant offering tantalizing nuggets of social history. -- Justine Crow * Families South East *\u003cbr\u003eQuirky, lively history, full of unexpected detail. * Simple Things *\u003cbr\u003eAmiable new history of the public park… He turns up lots of interesting, joyful stuff along the way. He’s particularly good on our forebears’ taste for the ersatz… \u003ci\u003eA Walk in the Park\u003c\/i\u003e is an enjoyable stroll. -- Rachel Cooke * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eFast-paced and richly peopled… Ebullient and enamored of his heroes is Elborough. -- Gillian Darley * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eHighly enjoyable. * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eElborough's quietly effervescent style manages to transform the reader from being someone with a passing interest in whatever topic he happens to be writing about into a fully-fledged Routemaster\/LP\/London loon. * Travel Guide *\u003cbr\u003eElborough writes in an aptly meandering style with an appetite for the eccentric marginalia of history -- Ben Felsenburg * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003e[It is] quirky and original. * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003e[\u003ci\u003eA Walk in the Park \u003c\/i\u003eis] wittily written and wide-ranging. * French Property News, Book of the Year *","brand":"Vintage Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732324856151,"sku":"9780099593829","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780099593829.jpg?v=1719996416","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/a-walk-in-the-park-9780099593829","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}