Description
Book SynopsisThe forest primeval, the river of life, the sacred mount read Landscape and Memory' to have these explainedLandscape and Memory' is a history book unlike any other. In a series of journeys through space and time, it examines our relationship with the landscape around us rivers, mountains, forests the impact each of them has had on our culture and imaginations, and the way in which we, in turn, have shaped them to answer our needs.This is not a conventional history book, but a book that builds up its argument by a series of poetic stories and impressions which cumulatively have the effect of a great novel. The forest primeval, the river of life, the sacred mount at the end of this wonderful book we understand where these ideas have come from, why they are so compelling and how they still lie all around us.
Trade Review‘One of the most intelligent, original, stimulating, self-indulgent, perverse and irresistibly enjoyable books I have ever read.’ Philip Ziegler
‘This is a tour de force of vivid historical writing…It is astonishingly learned, and yet offered with verve, humour and an unflagging sense of delight.’ Michael Ignatieff, IOS
‘Simon Schama is a giant, a great thinking machine and a golden lyricist as well. He takes us beyond geololgy and vegetation into myth and memory, to unravel the ancient connections which bring mountain, forest and river into our soul.’ Brian Masters, MoS
‘Schama long ago established himself as one of the most learned, original and provocative historians in the English speaking world…Unclassifiable, inimitable, fascinating, “Landscape and Memory” will inform and haunt, chasten and enrage. It is that rarest of commodities in our cultural marketplace – a work of genuine originality.’ Anthony Grafton, New Republic
