Landscape & Memory
Simon Schama’s history of the landscape as an idea rather than a place, arguing that what we take to be raw nature is thick with inherited myth. He follows forests, water and rock through German and Polish woodland, the Nile and the Thames, Mount Rushmore and the Alps, and includes the chapter on how Europeans learned to find mountains sublime rather than horrifying.
Recommended by 1 Person
Andrea Wulf
I read it ages ago but the one chapter that has stayed with me most vividly is the one about mountains. He describes the journey humankind has taken in relation to their perception of mountains, which started as something really horrid and scary, so that in the early 18th century tourists who crossed the Alps drew their blinds to avoid seeing the horror of the mountains. They would literally blindfold themselves.
Interview · December 2010
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.