Since at least the Reformation, English men and women have been engaged in visiting, exploring and portraying, in words and images, the landscape of their nation. The Invention of the English Landscape examines these journeys and investigations to explore how the natural and historic English landscape was reconfigured to become a widely enjoyed cultural and leisure resource.Peter Borsay considers the manifold forces behind this transformation, such as the rise of consumer culture, the media, industrial and transport revolutions, the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and the Gothic revival. In doing so, he reveals the development of a powerful bond between landscape and natural identity, against the backdrop of social and political change from the early modern period to the start of the Second World War.Borsay's interdisciplinary approach demonstrates how human understandings of the natural world shaped the geography of England, and uncovers a wealth of valuable material, from novels and poems to paintings, that expose historical understandings of the landscape. This innovative approach illuminates how the English countryside and historic buildings became cultural icons behind which the nation was rallied during war-time, and explores the emergence of a post-war heritage industry that is now a definitive part of British cultural life.

Approaches the subject from an innovative interdisciplinary perspective that encompasses history, geography, literary studies, art history, anthropology, and sociology

IntroductionPart I: Before the Victorians: c. 1500-18371. Revealing the Early Modern Landscape2. Ideas and Representations 1500-1837Part II: Reconfiguring the Landscape3. Ideas and Representations 1837-19394. New Topographies5. TimescapesPart III: Economic and Social Change6. Economic and Social Change7. The Transport RevolutionPart IV: The State, Politics and Identities8. State, Place and Politics9. Identities and ExperiencesConclusion: The Second World War and BeyondBibliography