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This is 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 its national identity, is rarely seen as having anything to do with British colonialism. In Our Island Stories, historian Fowler brings rural life and colonial rule together, with transformative results.
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.
Corinne Fowler is Professor of Colonialism and Heritage in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. Between 2018 and 2022, Fowler directed a child-led history and writing project called 'Colonial Countryside- National Trust Houses Reinterpreted'. She also co-authored the 2021 National Trust report on its country houses' historical links to the British Empire. Her most recent book is Green Unpleasant Land- Creative Responses to Rural England's Colonial Connections.
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 * A detailed and thoughtful exploration of historical connections that for too long have been obscured. A powerful book that brings the history of the Empire home – literally -- David Olusoga This is an essential and fascinating book because it brings to light, through conversations and nature walks, some of the buried connections between Britain’s landscape and historic buildings and its complicated hidden histories. Fowler does not judge or diminish, but enriches and deepens our understanding of this nation * Bernardine Evaristo *
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