The Lie of the Land: How a Tiny Group of Landowners Wrecked the Countryside, and How the Public Can Restore It

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*A WATERSTONES AND GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2024*

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WESTMINSTER BOOK AWARDS*

'Both dynamite and medicine' AMY-JANE BEER

'It couldn't be more relevant' JAMES O'BRIEN

'Timely and rousing' THE TIMES

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The lie of the land: that Britains landowners care for the countryside.

Our landowning elite are paid billions of taxpayer pounds to be good stewards. But these same landowners have carelessly trampled over our best-loved landscapes, leaving the rivers polluted, fenlands drained, and moorlands burned.

Guy Shrubsole has travelled across Britain to expose the lie and meet the communities fighting back to restore our lost landscapes. This is a bold, shared vision for our nations wild places, and how we can treat them with the awe and care they deserve.

*Guy Shrubsole's The Lost Rainforests of Britain was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2023-04-30*

Reviews

'Timely and rousing' The Times

'It couldn't be more relevant' James O'Brien

'A very, very good book' John Harris, The Guardian

'A fascinating expos' The i

'Urgent and essential' Caroline Lucas

'Exhilarating, insightful and bristling with rightful indignation' Lee Schofield

'The unjust impositions of historic land ownership blight all our lives here Guy shows why Chris Packham

'This unflinching, illuminating book manages to be both dynamite and medicine' Amy-Jane Beer

'What a book! Vitally important, and superbly written' Aaron Bastani

Shrubsole has the belly fire of a campaigner but the precision of an historian Roger Mortlock

A heartfelt, historically resonant call to reject the myth that private landownership delivers good stewardship of nature' Corinne Fowler

A smart, peaceful and practical plan for how we can turn this land into our land Patrick Barkham

If you care about our environment, read this book Sir John Lawton CBE FRS

This book beautifully subverts the central orthodoxy of England Nick Hayes

'This is Guy Shrubsoles best book yet' Mark Avery

An eye-opening read, both alarming and uplifting in equal measure If you want to be part of the change, start here This England

'Compelling a timely and important book Geographical Magazine

'Genuinely jaw-dropping bristling with energy and ideas' Martha Dillon

As England struggles with its post-Brexit identity, the lie of the land matters deeply Tim Lang

At once shocking and comforting, scathing and uplifting. A book on this subject shouldn't be so readable. A triumph Sophie Pavelle

His articulate fervour, seasoned with humour, shouts from every page. He throws down a timely gauntlet to centuries of tradition Tom Heap

Extraordinary. An affirmation of another kind of rural life that exists within this lie, and all the possibilities that are open to us if we defy it Nicola Chester

'Radical and urgent, measured and considered an essential place to start Dr Rose ONeill, Campaign for National Parks

Author Bio

Guy Shrubsole is a writer and environmental campaigner. He has worked for Rewilding Britain, Friends of the Earth, the UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and New Zealand's Ministry of Agriculture. He has written widely for publications including the Guardian and New Statesman. His first book, Who Owns England, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller.