Shortlisted for the 2015 Wainwright Prize.
"A remarkable book." —Sunday Times
"An ambitious mix of history, topography, literary criticism and nature writing... One of the strengths of Atkins's book is its resistance to the obvious." —Guardian, Book of the Week
"This is a wonderful, teeming book, and those stoutly poetic souls who favour moorland over lush valleys, rolling dales and even snow-capped fells will cherish it, and consider it quite the classic." —Observer
"A rich and nuanced read ... an exquisite piece of topographical writing; beautifully observed and evoking a powerful, poignant sense of place." —BBC Countryfile Magazine
"Vivid with incident and exquisite description." —New Statesman
"[Atkins'] reflections on the ecology, legends and literature are as poetic as shrewd; they fill the empty places with subtle colour, high romance and natural history." —The Times
"The Moor is deeply enjoyable, a book worth reading and re-reading, sun or shower, indoors or out." —Spectator
The Moor: Lives Landscape Literature by William Atkins gives us the story of the moors – from Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and Exmoor in the southwest up to the Scottish border, via Yorkshire and Northumberland – and how they have shaped our people, culture and industry.
In this journey across England’s most forbidding and mysterious terrain, William Atkins takes the reader from south to north, exploring moorland’s uniquely captivating position in our history, literature and psyche. Atkins’ journey is full of encounters, busy with the voices of the moors, past and present. He shows us that, while the fierce terrains we associate with Wuthering Heights and The Hound of the Baskervilles are very human landscapes, the moors remain daunting and defiant, standing steadfast against the passage of time.
