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A review by shanaqui
Shadowlands: A Journey Through Britain's Lost Cities and Vanished Villages by Matthew Green
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
Shadowlands turned out to be the perfect book for me right now. Each chapter is a little potted history of a vanished place, whether a village abandoned after the Black Death, a city disappearing into the sea, or a Welsh village drowned by the Liverpool Corporation to create a reservoir to supply water to industry. The selections are interesting and varied -- the chapters on Skara Brae, the villages in the STANTA area used for army training, and Capel Celyn were my favourites, but I found the whole book interesting.
Green doesn't shy away from the fact that England has a nasty history, a habit of treading on its neighbours. When he discusses the Marcher lords, he's clear about the violent control of the Welsh by what became the English state. When he discusses the drowning of Capel Celyn, he's very clear that it was a thing that was done by English people against the will of many, many Welsh people, and that not a single Welsh person actually voted for it or gave their consent in any kind of democratic process.
His writing is very clear and very readable, and he conjures up images of the places he writes about. It's not a richly illustrated volume, but I don't care much about that; others might wish for a few photos alongside the text. I enjoyed it very, very much.
Green doesn't shy away from the fact that England has a nasty history, a habit of treading on its neighbours. When he discusses the Marcher lords, he's clear about the violent control of the Welsh by what became the English state. When he discusses the drowning of Capel Celyn, he's very clear that it was a thing that was done by English people against the will of many, many Welsh people, and that not a single Welsh person actually voted for it or gave their consent in any kind of democratic process.
His writing is very clear and very readable, and he conjures up images of the places he writes about. It's not a richly illustrated volume, but I don't care much about that; others might wish for a few photos alongside the text. I enjoyed it very, very much.