Hardback
The Lie of the Land: Who Really Cares for the Countryside?
By Guy Shrubsole
The Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain reveals how landowners wreck the countryside, and how the public can restore it
For centuries we’ve been sold a lie: that you need to own the land to care for it.
Just 1% of the population own half of England, and this tiny landowning elite like to present themselves as the rightful custodians of the countryside. They’re even paid billions of pounds of public money to be good stewards. But what happens when they just don’t care?
A small number of landowners have laid waste to some of our most treasured landscapes, leaving our forests bare, our rivers polluted, our moorlands burned, and our fenlands drained. Here Guy Shrubsole journeys all over Britain to expose the damage done to our land, and meet the communities fighting back: the river guardians, small farmers and trespassing activists restoring our lost wildlife. Full of rage and hope, this is a bold vision for our nation’s wild places, and how we can treat them with the awe and attention they deserve.
It’s time to demand better for nature. We can start by replacing the lie of the land with a profound truth: that any of us can care for the countryside, regardless of whether you own it.
PRAISE FOR THE LOST RAINFORESTS OF BRITAIN: -
”'Remarkable … Shrubsole has completely changed the way many people look at the temperate woodlands that remain in parts of western Britain” - Financial Times
”'If anyone was born to save Britain’s rainforests, it was Guy Shrubsole” - Sunday Times, The Sunday Times Science Book of the Year
”'Fascinating, lyrical … A celebration of these dazzling worlds and a plea to act before they are extinguished” - The Times
”'[The Lost Rainforests of Britain] could be a lament but instead it is suffused with the irrepressible positivity and cheerful enthusiasm of a born campaigner” - Patrick Barkham, Guardian
”'Enchanting and insightful … Wonderfully evocative” - Geographical
”'Excellent … Inspiring” - Unherd
”'A treasure chest full of woodland jewels, rare, precious and beautiful” - Chris Packham
”'A magnificent and crucial book that opens our eyes to untold wonders” - George Monbiot
”'A beautiful, lyrical and urgent book … I cannot recommend it enough” - Nick Hayes, author of the Sunday Times-bestselling The Book of Trespass
”'Utterly enchanting, transporting and spellbinding … A rallying cry for restoring the rainforests of Britain urgently, and an inspiring and informative must-read for anyone interested in rewilding and ecological restoration” - Lucy Jones, author of Losing Eden
”'Passionate, powerful, political and practicable, Guy Shrubsole gives us a blueprint for how to bring our missing rainforests back to life in all their riotous, tangled glory. Impeccably researched, convincingly argued and with generous measures of joyful discovery, this really is a spectacular book” - Lee Schofield, author of Wild Fell