Binding: Hardcover
Description: A Waterstones Travel Book of the Year 2023 A funny warm and timely meditation on identity and belonging following the scenic route along the England Wales border: Britain's deepest faultline. There is a line on the map: to one side Wales small rugged and stubborn; on the other England crucible of the most expansionist culture the world has ever seen. It is a line that has been dug debated defined and defended for twenty centuries. All the Wide Border is a personal journey through the places amongst the people and across the divides of the border between England and Wales. Taking in some of our loveliest landscapes and our darkest secrets this is a region of immeasurable wonder and interest. It is here that the deepest roots and thorniest paradoxes of Britishness lie. The border between the countries even as a concept is ragged jagged and many - layered. Garlanded author Mike Parker has adored and explored these places his entire life. Born in England but settled in Wales he finds himself typical of many in being pulled in both directions. His journey is divided into three legs corresponding with the watersheds of the three great border rivers: the Dee in the north the Severn in the centre the Wye in the south. Neither quite England nor Wales the furzy borderland he uncovers the March is another country. Picking apart the many notions and clich's of Englishness Welshness and indeed Britishness Mike Parker plays with the very idea of borders: our fascination with them our need for them and our response to their power. In his hands the England Wales frontier is revealed to be a border within us all and it is fraying fast.
Title: All The Wide Border Wales England And The Places Between
Author(s): Parker Mike
Publisher: Harpercollins Publishers
Barcode: 9780008499181
Pages: 320 Pages
Publication Date: 10/31/2023
Category: Classic Travel Writing