“I have been waiting for such a book for 25 years… The great achievement of this book is that it is not only a well-researched and -written study of the history and culture of English wetlands, but also a call for conservation that engages with contemporary and local issues of recreation and tourism. It should receive a wide readership.”- Rod Giblett, Author of Canadian Wetlands, Postmodern Wetlands, Cities and Wetlands
“A timely and important study of the liminal and untamed power of those delicate areas known as wetlands and how writers and artists have interpreted what they mean to us in an increasingly endangered world.”- Julia Blackburn, Author of TimeSong: Search for Doggerland and 2009 winner of the JR Ackerley award for ‘Three of Us’.
“Rich and serpentine as the creeks it leaps over, English Wetlands is sure to be regarded as a classic landscape work. Big scope and keen detail – It’ll live in my rucksack for sometime.”- Maxim Peter Griffin, landscape artist, illustrator and filmmaker, author of Fieldnotes
This book argues that to understand wetlands is to understand human development. Using case studies drawn from three English wetlands, the book moves between empirical research and scholarship to interrogate how these particular ecosystems have played an essential part in the development of our contemporary society; yet inhabit a strange place in our national psyche. Chapters address a range of cultural and environmental wetland concerns. Consideration is given to: the ways in which we have revered, engineered and renaturalised these landscapes throughout history; English wetlands as spaces of beauty, creativity, reflection, rejuvenation and multi-species interactions; accelerating climate change in an age of neoliberalism. The final chapter then is a reflection on our collective lives together alongside other species, exploring what sustainability transitions might mean for human-wetland relationships.
Mary Gearey PhD is Senior Lecturer in Social and Cultural Geography at the School of Environment and Technology, University of Brighton, UK.
Andrew Church is Professor of Human Geography and Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at the University of Brighton, UK.
Neil Ravenscroft is Professor and Head of the School of Real Estate and Land Management at the Royal Agricultural University, UK.
