ENGLAND

England s landscape is iconic a tapestry of distinctive habitats that together make up a country unique for its rich diversity of flora and fauna Concentrating on twelve habitats John Lewis Stempel leads us from estuary to park chalk downland to woodland river to field village to moor lake to heath fen to coastal cliffs in a book that is unquestionably his magnum opus Referencing beloved great writers in whose footsteps he treads Gilbert White John Clare W H Hudson Richard Jefferies Edward Thomas and combining breathtakingly beautiful prose with detailed wildlife observation botanical fact and ancient folklore Lewis Stempel immerses himself in each place discovering their singular atmosphere the play of the seasons the feel of the wind in midwinter the sounds of daybreak how twilight settles Each one whether managed park or wild moor plunging cliff or man made Broads has also shaped human life forming our idea of ourselves and our sense of what England means England A Natural History is the definitive volume on the English landscape and the capstone of John Lewis Stempel s nature writing No one comes close to Lewis Stempel