"The Book of Trespass reads like a call to arms - a bold challenge to the embedded rule that land ownership underpins everything."
Author Nick Hayes argues that "If ... power is sourced in property, then the fences that divide England are not just symbols of the partition of people, but the very cause of it.” And so off he goes, trespassing through the estates of England, checking out what we are all denied access to and along the way unpicking bigger stitch-ups.
This book is not simply a diary of naughty incursions - amongst other things it’s a meticulous deconstruction of the legal history which has led to a situation where owners will often intimidate walkers with arguments that do not stand up in court, or at best are open to interpretation. Hayes begins the book with an amusing account of a celebrated incidence of civil disobedience - the mass trespass of Kinder Scout in the Peak District in 1932 - and from there he unravels decades of frustration.
The Book of Trespass is also notably a collection of intriguing and beautiful pen and ink illustrations by the author which unveil and frame these forbidden landscapes as quite mysterious and dream-like. The book is radical and persuasive, and I’m not sure I will ever treat a fence or a private land sign with the same respect again.
| Primary Genre | Nature and the natural world: general interest |
| Other Genres: | |
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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A GUARDIAN, I AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION 2021
The vast majority of our country is entirely unknown to us because we are banned from setting foot on it. By law of trespass, we are excluded from 92 per cent of the land and 97 per cent of its waterways, blocked by walls whose legitimacy is rarely questioned. But behind them lies a story of enclosure, exploitation and dispossession of public rights whose effects last to this day.
The Book of Trespass takes us on a journey over the walls of England, into the thousands of square miles of rivers, woodland, lakes and meadows that are blocked from public access. By trespassing the land of the media magnates, Lords, politicians and private corporations that own England, Nick Hayes argues that the root of social inequality is the uneven distribution of land. Weaving together the stories of poachers, vagabonds, gypsies, witches, hippies, ravers, ramblers, migrants and protestors, and charting acts of civil disobedience that challenge orthodox power at its heart, The Book of Trespass will transform the way you see the land.
The Book of Trespass features in the following genres: Nature and the natural world: general interest, Travel, Criminal law: offences against property, Human rights, civil rights, Public ownership / nationalization, The countryside, country life: general interest, Lifestyle, Hobbies and Leisure, Recommendations, Criminal law: procedure and offences, Laws of specific jurisdictions and specific areas of law, Law, Political control and freedoms, Politics and government, Society and Social Sciences, Ownership and organization of enterprises, Business and Management, Economics, Finance, Business and Management, Non-Fiction Books of the Month
The Book of Trespass is available in Paperback
The Book of Trespass was written by Nick Hayes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
The Book of Trespass has 443 pages
£9.89
