This is an excellent book, magisterial in compass, insightful, readable and the footnoted asides are a delight. Students, academics and those unconnected with the world of formal education will find much to enjoy and to inform. -- Kevin Edwards, Professor of Physical Geography, University of Aberdeen This is a worthy book full of rich detail, engaging with political philosophy very much on its own terms. Notably reader-friendly ! Fifty photos plus sixty tailor-made graphics make concepts lucid for non-specialists, and serve as concise summaries for professionals. Explanations of techniques and terminology offer keys which open doors for further reading ! Professor Simmon's book is one many kinds of readers will appreciate ! a book of such scale, so lively in style, inevitably stimulates arguments ! Readers will certainly find both information and enjoyment as I did This is easily one of the more successful and authoritative books on the environmental history of the UK and arguably the most successful to date in bringing the human and environmental together with equal understanding. It is well written, imparts a real breadth to the problem and moves freely between the large-scale perspective and the case study or local illustration. For those who are teaching the environmental history of the UK, this will be a benchmark text. Accessible, entertaining, tremendously well exemplified throughout, and a very thorough overview of British environmental history ! an idiosyncratic and magisterial overview of a complex and fascinating topic Both residents and vistors should find much of value in this informative text. -- K. B. Sterling, formerly Pace University Choice This is an excellent book, magisterial in compass, insightful, readable and the footnoted asides are a delight. Students, academics and those unconnected with the world of formal education will find much to enjoy and to inform. This is a worthy book full of rich detail, engaging with political philosophy very much on its own terms. Notably reader-friendly ! Fifty photos plus sixty tailor-made graphics make concepts lucid for non-specialists, and serve as concise summaries for professionals. Explanations of techniques and terminology offer keys which open doors for further reading ! Professor Simmon's book is one many kinds of readers will appreciate ! a book of such scale, so lively in style, inevitably stimulates arguments ! Readers will certainly find both information and enjoyment as I did This is easily one of the more successful and authoritative books on the environmental history of the UK and arguably the most successful to date in bringing the human and environmental together with equal understanding. It is well written, imparts a real breadth to the problem and moves freely between the large-scale perspective and the case study or local illustration. For those who are teaching the environmental history of the UK, this will be a benchmark text. Accessible, entertaining, tremendously well exemplified throughout, and a very thorough overview of British environmental history ! an idiosyncratic and magisterial overview of a complex and fascinating topic Both residents and vistors should find much of value in this informative text.