The Marches: A Borderland Journey between England and Scotland - Couverture rigide

"[Stewart] paints vivid portraits... [he] anchors his lively mix of history, travelogue, and reportage on local communities in a vibrant portrait of his father, who was both a tartan-wearing Scotsman and a thoroughly British soldier and diplomat. This is a subtle, clear-eyed, ardent case for the United Kingdom's future, one that recognizes cross-border divisions but deeply values ties that bind." —PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY “As a writer, Stewart has a fine sense of the nature of the physical spaces he traverses, as well as the human stories (past and present) that play out in these landscapes.” —SIGNATURE   “An unforgettable tale.” —NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC “Fascinating...Stewart provides wonderful insights as he visits Roman fortifications, medieval castles, and Hadrian’s Wall. This is an informative, thoughtful, and timely mix of history and travelogue.” —BOOKLIST   “There are few authors whose books are automatic purchases, whatever the subject . . . [Stewart’s] greatest talent is in getting people to speak to him and actually listening to what they say, a skill on full display in his previous books about Afghanistan and Iraq. . . . Throughout, Stewart makes it a joy to learn every tree, flower, and butterfly, to explore where Roman forts stood, and to understand the ancient histories of the region. Another winner from a consistently engaging author.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)   "Stewart bubbles with geopolitical knowledge... [His] walk across the Middleland brings Cumbria brilliantly alive...  this is travel writing at its best... Perhaps more than anything else, more than the exploration of a landscape, or an attempt to define the prickly concept of empire, or to ask what it means to be Scottish, The Marches is a portrait of a man. Of an energetic, loving father; of a gentle man, yet feisty; of a man who loved to dance and to laugh and to sing, and whose son was the apple of his eye.”—THE GUARDIAN

“Stewart demonstrates a deep historical understanding of the land and describes the flora and fauna that he encounters with the precision of a botanist... Stewart is a careful and thoughtful observer...”—CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR   "[A] modern day Lawrence of Arabia... the book is a sensitive exploration of what borders mean and don't mean... the book is held together by Mr. Stewart's writing, with his short chapters moving skillfully from history to personal encounter."— Andrew Lownie, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL   “Stewart reveals the force of myths and traditions and the endurance of ties that are woven into the fabric of the land itself. A meditation on deep history, the pull of national identity, and home, The Marches will be regarded as one of the best books of 2016.”—WAMC-FM, “the Roundtable” “Captivating... Stewart writes movingly and honestly about his father, who was 50 when Rory was born but possessed a remarkable vigor and a keen interest in his son that readers will feel throughout the narrative. It’s a fitting end to this powerful exploration of personal and national lineages and landscapes.”—BOOKPAGE   “As a writer, Stewart has a fine sense of the nature of the physical spaces he traverses, as well as the human stories (past and present) that play out in these landscapes.” —SIGNATURE   “An unforgettable tale.” —NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC "[Stewart] paints vivid portraits... [he] anchors his lively mix of history, travelogue, and reportage on local communities in a vibrant portrait of his father, who was both a tartan-wearing Scotsman and a thoroughly British soldier and diplomat. This is a subtle, clear-eyed, ardent case for the United Kingdom's future, one that recognizes cross-border divisions but deeply values ties that bind." —PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY “Fascinating...Stewart provides wonderful insights as he visits Roman fortifications, medieval castles, and Hadrian’s Wall. This is an informative, thoughtful, and timely mix of history and travelogue.” —BOOKLIST   “There are few authors whose books are automatic purchases, whatever the subject . . . [Stewart’s] greatest talent is in getting people to speak to him and actually listening to what they say, a skill on full display in his previous books about Afghanistan and Iraq. . . . Throughout, Stewart makes it a joy to learn every tree, flower, and butterfly, to explore where Roman forts stood, and to understand the ancient histories of the region. Another winner from a consistently engaging author.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)   "Stewart bubbles with geopolitical knowledge... [His] walk across the Middleland brings Cumbria brilliantly alive...  this is travel writing at its best... Perhaps more than anything else, more than the exploration of a landscape, or an attempt to define the prickly concept of empire, or to ask what it means to be Scottish, The Marches is a portrait of a man. Of an energetic, loving father; of a gentle man, yet feisty; of a man who loved to dance and to laugh and to sing, and whose son was the apple of his eye.”—THE GUARDIAN(UK)

“Fascinating... Stewart provides wonderful insights as he visits Roman fortifications, medieval castles, and Hadrian’s Wall. This is an informative, thoughtful, and timely mix of history and travelogue.” —BOOKLIST   “An unforgettable tale.” —NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC   “There are few authors whose books are automatic purchases, whatever the subject... [Stewart’s] greatest talent is in getting people to speak to him and actually listening to what they say, a skill on full display in his previous books about Afghanistan and Iraq... Throughout, Stewart makes it a joy to learn every tree, flower, and butterfly, to explore where Roman forts stood, and to understand the ancient histories of the region. Another winner from a consistently engaging author.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS, Starred Review   “Aside from his examination of British identity politics, Stewart provides wonderful insights as he visits Roman fortifications, medieval castles, and Hadrian’s Wall. This is an informative, thoughtful, and timely mix of history and travelogue.” —BOOKLIST  

PRAISE FOR THE PLACES IN BETWEEN
 "A striding, glorious book . . . Learned but gentle, tough but humane, Stewart . . . writes with a mystic’s appreciation of the natural world, a novelist’s sense of character and a comedian’s sense of timing . . . A flat-out masterpiece . . . The Places in Between is, in very nearly every sense, too good to be true."—The New York Times Book Review "A splendid tale that is by turns wryly humorous, intensely observant, and humanely unsentimental."—Christian Science Monitor "Stupendous . . . an instant travel classic."—Entertainment Weekly "Stewart’s 36-day walk across Afghanistan, starting just weeks after the fall of the Taliban, sets a new standard for cool nerve and hot determination . . . His description of the landscapes he traverses makes you feel you’re accompanying him through a shifting, sculpted painting . . . Sublimely written."—The Seattle Times  PRAISE FOR THE PRINCE OF THE MARSHES "[A]n instant classic of colonial literature.  The then-30-year-old former diplomat sees wry comedy as much as human tragedy in an assignment that involved arbitrating between paranoid tribal interests and blunderingly unrealistic American goals."--Tina Brown, The Week's "The Book List" A Washington Post Book World "Best Book of 2006" "Of all the books I've read about the tragedy in Iraq, I think Stewart's is the most likely to last.  In part, this is because it does not try to draw broad conclusions about what went wrong, but simply offers an account of one man's good intentions going awry."--Jacob Weisberg, Slate "Stewart’s account of his attempts to placate the various local figures who continually threaten to kill each other, or him, is both shrewd and self-deprecating . . . Stewart’s exasperation with the cultural ignorance of C.P.A. directives is as manifest as his affectionate regard for the rhythms and customs of Arab life, a quality that often recalls an earlier generation of British travel writer."—The New Yorker "A surreal and futile yearlong struggle, scrupulously recounted . . . Stewart is a fearless reporter and smart observer of Islamic culture. B+"—Entertainment Weekly 

“Fascinating...Stewart provides wonderful insights as he visits Roman fortifications, medieval castles, and Hadrian’s Wall. This is an informative, thoughtful, and timely mix of history and travelogue.” —BOOKLIST   “An unforgettable tale.” —NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC   “There are few authors whose books are automatic purchases, whatever the subject . . . [Stewart’s] greatest talent is in getting people to speak to him and actually listening to what they say, a skill on full display in his previous books about Afghanistan and Iraq. . . . Throughout, Stewart makes it a joy to learn every tree, flower, and butterfly, to explore where Roman forts stood, and to understand the ancient histories of the region. Another winner from a consistently engaging author.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)  

From the best-selling author of The Places in Between, “a flat-out masterpiece” (New York Times Book Review), an exploration of the Marches—the borderland between England and Scotland—and the people, history, and conflicts that have shaped it In The Places in Between Rory Stewart walked through the most dangerous borderlands in the world. Now he walks along the border he calls home—where political turmoil and vivid lives have played out for centuries across a magnificent natural landscape—to tell the story of the Marches. In his thousand-mile journey, Stewart sleeps on mountain ridges and housing estates, in hostels and farmhouses. Following the lines of Neolithic standing stones, wading through floods and ruined fields, he walks Hadrian’s Wall with soldiers who have fought in Afghanistan and visits the Buddhist monks who outnumber Christian monks in the Scottish countryside today. He melds the stories of the people he meets with the region’s political and economic history, tracing the creation of Scotland from ancient tribes to the independence referendum. And he discovers another country buried in history, a vanished Middleland: the lost kingdom of Cumbria. With every step, Stewart reveals the force of myths and traditions and the endurance of ties that are woven into the fabric of the land itself. A meditation on deep history, the pull of national identity, and home, The Marches is a transporting work from a powerful and original writer.