Upland
The Strange History and Vital Future of Britain’s Mountains
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:9th Jul '26
Should be back in stock very soon
The first complete history of Britain’s mountains, capturing their beauty, tragedy and the pivotal role of these dramatic landscapes in the nation’s past and future
‘A definitive history of our rocky isles from the most magisterial and far-seeing perspective. Every page holds a fascinating nugget’ GAIA VINCE, author of Nomad Century
Britain’s mountains are our grandest and wildest places, their vast openness providing inspiration and escape. But they are now so revered that we overlook the many peoples who long inhabited them and the dramatic history of plunder and dispossession that explains how strangely empty these regions have become.
Derided for centuries as uncivilised wastes, Britain’s uplands in fact hosted richly cultured, distinctive and resilient populations. And yet by the time Romantic poets ‘discovered’ the beauty of these places, the land itself had been denuded by clearances, famine and the needs of sheep and landowners.
From the earliest Brittonic tribes to present-day tensions between farmers, tourists and ecological activists, Upland repopulates Britain’s mountains with the kings and monks, soldiers and poets, engineers and industrialists, visionaries and campaigners who made them what they are.
‘Completely enthralling and original. Our fragile landscapes have a fine new biographer’ NICHOLAS CRANE, author of Latitude
‘Beautifully written’ LAURA SPINNEY, author of Proto
A glorious survey of Britain's high places . . . The writer and climber brings colour and carnival to his account of a country and people shaped by its mountains * Guardian ** Book of the Day ** *
Engrossing . . . a must-read for anyone with an interest in past, present and future of Britain’s mountains . . . wonderful . . . rich in detail and incident . . . a nuanced, clear-eyed and informative picture * Scotsman *
Rich and adventurous . . . always smart and well informed * Literary Review *
Britain’s mountains have rich, dramatic human histories that linger to this day . . . untold, eye-opening stories of conflict and control surrounding our wildest places * Independent *
The mountains, constant and unchanging on any human scale, are a good lens through which to view our preoccupations . . . Douglas’s central message is right: we cannot separate ourselves from the landscape; it is place that makes people * The Sunday Times *
A heady and exciting time-lapse of British history mapped onto the land’s topography … Highly readable and approachable . . . A fully absorbable chronicle . . . as dramatic as any Victorian novel . . . The kind of book to return to again and again * Cumbria Life *
This book is completely enthralling and original – and can only have been written by someone with a profound love of our uplands. The sense of time through geology and of space through elevation gives the book an epic scale; readers are left in no doubt that uplands are a unique witness to our island story and to many of our natural predicaments. Our fragile landscapes have a fine new biographer -- Nicholas Crane, author of Latitude
Deeply researched and authoritative, Douglas has produced a definitive history of the peoples, cultures and lands of our rocky isles from the most magisterial and far-seeing perspective. Every page holds a fascinating nugget – I learned so much -- Gaia Vince, author of Nomad Century
Our hills and mountains, though scattered, are a kingdom of their own. Nobody has ever gathered into a book their human story, their geography, their past and their future, before. Ed Douglas has achieved this with elegance and passion -- Matthew Parris
Beautifully written -- Laura Spinney, author of Proto
ISBN: 9781847927538
Dimensions: 243mm x 165mm x 37mm
Weight: 752g
528 pages