The Book of Trespass: Crossing the Lines that Divide Us

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Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements. I found the first part of this book to be very informative and discovered quite a bit about life in England before the Norman Conquest which I had hadn't known previously. The information about the Enclosure Act was also very enlightening. However I was less enchanted by the author's constant belittling of a certain national newspaper and its readers who he seems to hold personally responsible for anything that has happened in the UK to which he doesn't agree. I hadn't realised when reading the book of his connection with The Guardian newspaper, otherwise I wouldn't have been quite as surprised at his views. I was so also unsure why a trip to Calais to visit the migrant camps, however laudable, was included in a book about trespass in England. Apparently there are also some beautiful illustrations in the book which unfortunately I couldn't access on my tablet. Meandering. Fascinating. Thought-provoking. In this part polemic, part wanderer’s journal, part history lesson, Hayes organises chapters loosely around particular trespasses he has committed, exploring the history of the land he seeks to access, the beauty of nature and the way words and laws are used to guard land that, arguably, should be common land. Exhilarating . . . A gorgeously written, deeply researched and merrily provocative tour of English landscape, history and culture -- Boyd Tonkin * Arts Desk * to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

This is a passionate, brilliant, radical and persuasive work. Hayes is a trespasser who takes us on a series of walks which explore parts of England (92% of it) we are not allowed to see. Exhilarating . . . A gorgeously written, deeply researched and merrily provocative tour of English landscape, history and culture Crucially, and ambitiously, he argues that “Englishness has always been defined by the landed lords of England and fed in columns of hot air to the landless”: our old friend, nationalism as false consciousness. Globally, an imperial machinery of slavery and conquest both bankrolled and legitimised the “cult of exclusion” that kept the English off their own turf. At home, the “magical architecture” and seductive contours of the great estates lent that dogma a patina of beauty and grace. Meanwhile, poachers swung from gibbets, plantation slaves toiled and died, proud commoners became a cowed rural proletariat and, in post-industrial mass society, the heritage industry served up centuries of mass uprooting and intimidation as a glorious aristocratic legacy. Land became a “commodity alone”, “partitioned from the web of social ties” that truly gives it value. I am so glad I did because it turned out to be a brilliant read. There are so many new things about England and the land around us that I knew nothing about that. It was fascinating reading about how certain aristocrats and other such people came to own their lands (not in a fair way!).

Did you know that you may legally access only 3% of England’s rivers?

Really enjoyed this one. Is it a bit rambly? Sure. Did I have issues with a witchcraft section overly reliant on Silvia Federici's interpretations? Yeah, a bit. But overall it's a very readable look into the abysmal state of land access and public rights in England, and how it got that way. For all its exuberance and erudition, The Book of Trespass is unlikely to cross our culture-war fences. As long as what happens on the land is governed by a select few there will never be a society that reflects the values of its constituents, there will never be an England that reflects the values of anything but a tiny minority of its citizens. If we are truly to discover what we have in common, we must be allowed to gather on common ground." for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology.

But it offers a sharp-eyed, muddy-booted guide to the process that left the English “simultaneously hedged out of their land and hemmed into a new ideology”. Take it along next time you plan to jump any wall.Brilliantly argued, The Book of Trespass explores with clarity and courage an ancient problem in radically new ways . . . Hayes unearths the psychological preconditions that empower and legitimise these monumental inequalities The book ends with a call to extend the Countryside and Rights of Way Act in England, expanding our Right to Roam , no matter who owns the land. This is obviously a worthwhile endeavour as long as it is a part of a much wider movement that also looks to challenge the power of the vested landed interests of this country, dismantle the lines that divide us and repair the deep wounds those lines have caused. The Book of Trespass is a beautiful, powerful call to know our many histories, the struggles that have gone before, and offers a powerful awakening from the spell of ‘ownership’. Read it, let it galvanise you. What a brilliant, passionate and political book this is, by a young writer-walker-activist who is also a dazzlingly gifted artist. It tells - through story, exploration, evocation - the history of trespass (and therefore of freedom) in Britain and beyond, while also making a powerful case for future change. It is bold and brave, as well as beautiful; Hayes's voice is warm, funny, smart and inspiring. The Book of Trespass will make you see landscapes differently -- Robert Macfarlane Seeks to challenge and expose the mesmerising power that landownership exerts on this country, and to show how we can challenge its presumptions . . . The Book of Trespass is massively researched but lightly delivered, a remarkable and truly radical work, loaded with resonant truths and stunningly illustrated by the author -- George Monbiot * Guardian *