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The Lie of the Land: By the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain

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'Brave and brilliant’ George Monbiot

'Timely and rousing' The Times

For centuries we’ve been sold a lie: that you need to own the land to care for it.

Just 1% of the population own half of England, and this tiny landowning elite like to present themselves as the rightful custodians of the countryside. They’re even paid billions of pounds of public money to be good stewards. But what happens when they just don’t care?

A small number of landowners have laid waste to some of our most treasured landscapes, leaving our forests bare, our rivers polluted, our moorlands burned, and our fenlands drained. Here Guy Shrubsole journeys all over Britain to expose the damage done to our land, and meet the communities fighting back: the river guardians, small farmers and trespassing activists restoring our lost wildlife. Full of rage and hope, this is a bold vision for our nation’s wild places, and how we can treat them with the awe and attention they deserve.

It’s time to demand better for nature. We can start by replacing the lie of the land with a profound truth: that any of us can care for the countryside, regardless of whether you own it.

'The unjust impositions of historic land ownership blight all our lives – here Guy shows why’Chris Packham

'Both dynamite and medicine' Amy-Jane Beer

Guy Shrubsole's book 'The Lost Rainforests of Britain' was a No.2 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2023-05-01.

Review

'Timely and rousing' The Times

'A fascinating exposé'The i

'Compelling … a timely and important book’ Geographical Magazine

'Exhilarating, insightful and bristling with rightful indignation' Lee Schofield

'The unjust impositions of historic land ownership blight all our lives – here Guy shows why’ Chris Packham

'What a book! Vitally important, and superbly written' Aaron Bastani

‘Shrubsole has the belly fire of a campaigner but the precision of an historian’ Roger Mortlock, Chief Executive of CPRE

‘A heartfelt, historically resonant call to reject the myth that private landownership delivers good stewardship of nature' Corinne Fowler

‘A smart, peaceful and practical plan for how we can turn this land into our land’ Patrick Barkham

‘If you care about our environment, read this book’ Sir John Lawton CBE FRS

‘This book beautifully subverts the central orthodoxy of England, that owning land is the only way to care for it’ Nick Hayes

'This is Guy Shrubsole’s best book yet' Mark Avery

‘Guy Shrubsole asserts the right of the majority to engage in what happens to land. As England struggles with its post-Brexit identity, the lie of the land matters deeply’ Tim Lang

‘At once shocking and comforting, scathing and uplifting. A book on this subject shouldn't be so readable. A triumph’ Sophie Pavelle

‘Who really cares for the countryside? Guy does. His articulate fervour, seasoned with humour, shouts from every page. He throws down a timely gauntlet to centuries of tradition’ Tom Heap

‘Extraordinary. An affirmation of another kind of rural life that exists within this lie, and all the possibilities that are open to us if we defy it’ Nicola Chester

‘A rousing call to action that proposes practical interventions for how management of the countryside could – and should – be improved for the benefit of both people and environment’ Claire Ratinon

'Radical and urgent, measured and considered … an essential place to start’ Dr Rose O’Neill, Chief Executive, Campaign for National Parks

Book Description

By the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain

Review:

5.0 out of 5

100.00% of customers are satisfied

5.0 out of 5 stars An honest expose of elite land ownership.

K.C. · 21 September 2024

I liked everything about this book. It informs truthfully about the inequality of England when it comes to the right to roam compared to Scotland. It throws light on the lack of stewardship for their land that some landowners hide away from view. It highlights the shocking truth that no one can really own land, we are all only transitory stewards. Many of today's landowners are thoughtlessly destroying nature to exploit 'their' land for kudos, big profits, in land management which is detrimental to nature and releasing carbon to our fragile atmosphere. But Shrubsole's book is a wake up call to everyone. If we own land we must properly care for it and all life living in it. If we do not own land we must be allowed the Right to Roam over it - four our health, mental well being and sheer love of Creation. Land unused can be ReWilded for Nature. Full of common sense, this book brings home the historic inequalities of rich versus poor still extant today. But it also powerfully puts forward Just solutions. Read it and feel angry. You will be enlightened and in possession of the truth about the British Isles.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great.

G. · 15 October 2024

Bought as a present, arrived safely in great condition, well packaged.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth about land

C.B. · 5 October 2024

His best book to date. Full of insight.

5.0 out of 5 stars You don't need to own land to love land!

B. · 21 September 2024

This is an engaging, detailed exposé by Guy Shrubsole of the narrative of who owns the land in England, how this ‘myth’ has become enshrined, and how we can create a new framing to appoint new stewards to change this ‘lie of the land’.Shrubsole makes the repeated point in this book that ‘Stewardship, though a noble ideal, is too often greenwash.’ He convincingly argues that accountability and responsibility lie at the heart of ownership. ‘We have to make the self-appointed custodians of the countryside answerable to the rest of us.’ This is a repeated mantra throughout, that for too long, estate managers and landowners have escaped scrutiny for actions on their land, which has negative impacts ‘downstream’- sadly, and all too often, this can be a literal downstream, where river pollution and land degradation can be found.Shrubsole opens his text by framing his extended argument, ‘Owning land, particularly large swathes of it, ought to come with serious responsibilities to society and to the rest of the natural world.’ He argues that, on one hand, it is patronising to assume that the public are not capable of performing such a protective role. He continues that additionally, this ideology perpetuates and reinforces the protective interests of the landed elite- and their political interests. Why are the public at large not regarded as being capable stewards of the land?On a minor level, homeowners, especially those with gardens, are viewed as being more than capable to be stewards of their gardens- but how and why this cannot be upscaled is puzzling. ‘We ignore the fact that private homes and gardens take up just 5 per cent of the country. The reality is that we all have a legitimate interest in how the other 95% of our land is used because we all depend upon it.’Shrubsole identifies that the framing of ‘stewardship’ is a new concept, designed to exclude and designed to defend against accusations of land harm. ‘The language of stewardship was deliberately revived in the late twentieth century by landowners and farming unions to defend themselves against accusations of environmental destruction.’ This concept that only the rich can be effective stewards of the land is revealed to a perniciously invented narrative that has become entrenched in a class struggle.The central argument of the book is introduced early on- ‘But the greatest lie of the land is the idea that you have to own land to care for it.’ Shrubsole identifies many action groups and individuals who push for protection of the land, through campaigning, to expose the truth behind the greenwashing promises and pledges and who build legal arguments to grant nature legal personhood.It is the ego-centric argument that land is property to be used, but that it has legal rights itself- a legal movement that, thankfully, is beginning to spread.A clear example of this is the current formation of the criteria to apply to designate an area of land as an ‘Asset of Community Value’. ‘The official criteria under which land can be listed as an Asset of Community Value must be broadened to include environmental and economic benefits alongside social ones.’ In an application, it is advised to show that the land is ‘used’ by members of the community in a quantifiable manner- that physical actions are conducted there. Simply enjoying the land as existing in its own right and for its own sake is far too abstract an idea at present for councils. ‘Community ownership offers a strikingly different way to own and manage land more democratically than merely trusting in the benevolence of the larger private landowners.’Land as a trophyShrubsole then turns his attention onto those who regard land as an indication of wealth and status, who are more interested in this element than effective land management. From grouse moors to peat bogs, he outlines actions and examples where legal loopholes have allowed destructive actions to take place in these areas and suggests that perhaps this is not accidental. ‘The extremely cosy relationship between wealthy grouse moor owners and our political class has meant the industry has avoided any serious regulation for decades.’An idea whose time has comeShrubsole emphasises that proactive protection for nature isn’t just desirable,but essential. ‘Today we face an even more existential threat than invasion: the climate crisis and the unravelling of the very web of life that we all depend upon.’ A declaration of a ‘Nature Emergency’ to begin to halt the horrific decline of nature in the UK needs to be a priority for this new government. Government intervention is key argues Shrubsole, and he makes the valid point that land is not bought compulsorily for nature, but is regularly done for large infrastructure projects which often harm nature. ‘But we accept the principle of the public sector being able to buy land compulsorily when it builds infrastructure; why not for nature? If the government can buy land for roads, railways and energy, why not for vital carbon sinks and the ecosystems we all depend on?’Replacing the ‘lie of the land’Shrubsole argues powerfully that land should be a ‘common treasury for all’ and not just the purview of and for the powerful elite. He identifies that some landowners have failed to be good stewards of the land, but have escaped accountability and censure for this. Not all have a love for the land. ‘The reality is that private property ownership doesn't inevitably breed respect for nature.’ He states that it is past time to ‘democratise the governance of land’ in order to save nature in Britain and that this could be done through new Government policies. From the evidence gathered so far and with the rising climate and nature crises, Shrubsole insists that, ‘The fate of our land is too important to be left only to those who own it.’He finally urges that we need to take back the narrative that has served the interests of landowners and not the interests of the land.‘Let's replace the lie of the land with a profound truth that anyone can develop a deep love of nature, place, and land, regardless of whether you own it.’

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The Lie of the Land: By the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lost Rainforests of Britain

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