Trees Ancient and Modern
Woodland Cultures and Conservation
Charles WatkinsReveals how people have used, valued and understood forests over time.
While trees are celebrated as symbols of natural beauty, they are increasingly at risk from climate change, disease, fires and urban expansion. Trees Ancient and Modern explores humanity’s deep connection with trees and woodlands, highlighting their beauty and importance and the challenges they face. The book looks at debates about creating new woodlands, exploring questions of location, ownership and management.
Using diverse sources such as literature, art, historical records, scientific surveys and oral histories, Charles Watkins reveals how people have used, valued and understood forests over time. He also assesses modern threats to woodlands and considers how best to conserve them. Richly illustrated, this is a global social and cultural history of forests that provides valuable insights for future management.
Reveals how people have used, valued and understood forests over time.
While trees are celebrated as symbols of natural beauty, they are increasingly at risk from climate change, disease, fires and urban expansion. Trees Ancient and Modern explores humanity’s deep connection with trees and woodlands, highlighting their beauty and importance and the challenges they face. The book looks at debates about creating new woodlands, exploring questions of location, ownership and management.
Using diverse sources such as literature, art, historical records, scientific surveys and oral histories, Charles Watkins reveals how people have used, valued and understood forests over time. He also assesses modern threats to woodlands and considers how best to conserve them. Richly illustrated, this is a global social and cultural history of forests that provides valuable insights for future management.
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Extraordinarily erudite, richly detailed, beautifully illustrated and deeply felt, Trees Ancient and Modern captures a lifetime of thinking with and through trees. On every page Charles Watkins challenges us to think of trees and woodland as central to our engagement with the world and our acts of world-making – and shows how our attitudes to, and management of, trees reveal a great deal about the human condition. If much of this wonderful book provides a salutary warning for our acts of exploitation and mismanagement, ultimately it proves genuinely hopeful. Our trees and woodlands are not only remarkably resilient, Watkins shows, but they are our homes, our places to learn, to play, to think, to heal.
'Carl Griffin, Professor of Historical Geography, University of Sussex
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A fascinating journey in space and time across a variety of woody landscapes in Europe and beyond; richly illustrated and captivatingly written, the book is a delight to tree lovers and a unique source for scholars interested in the complex relation between humans, cultures and trees.
'Pietro Piana, Associate Professor in Economic and Political Geography, University of Genoa
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When many see large-scale reforestation as one means of combating the current climate emergency, this new book on the cultural and historical geographies of trees and tree places from one of Britain’s leading arboricultural authorities is very welcome indeed. Watkins accompanies us into the woods, tarrying at individual ancient or remarkable trees, sylvan glades, sun-dappled copses, dark forbidding forests and colourful carpets of distinctive woodland flora. This well-illustrated book is enriched by delicately drawn case studies and examples that will appeal to general readers, tree professionals and academics alike. By reminding us so cogently and vividly of humanity’s multifarious interactions with trees and forests across millennia, Watkins’ rich and timely study will educate, enthuse and embolden arbophiles everywhere.
'Paul Elliott, Professor of Modern History, University of Derby
INTRODUCTION
1 ANCIENT ORIGINS
2 DIVERSE MODERNITY
3 ANIMALS AND TREES
4 TREES UNDER ATTACK
5 FELLING TREES
6 ARBOREAL AESTHETICS
7 SACRED TREES
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PHOTO ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INDEX
Charles Watkins is Professor of Rural Geography at the University of Nottingham. His books include Trees in Art (2018) and Trees, Woods and Forests (2014), both published by Reaktion Books.
