The miracle of The Marches is not so much the treks Stewart describes, pulling in all possible relevant history, as the monument that emerges to his beloved father." -- NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW I prefer," commented my father when I shared this [a Scot's verse, written contemporaneously, about Robert Bruce's battles with Edward I] with him, "Edward's comment on toppling Balliol -- 'bon bosoigne fai qy de merde se deliver' -- isn't it great to push out a turd."" Stewart reveals the force of myths and traditions and the endurance of ties that are woven into the fabric of the land itself. A meditation on deep history, the pull of national identity, and home, The Marches will be regarded as one of the best books of 2016."-- WAMC-FM, "the Roundtable"

Meer dan een verhaal over 2 lange wandeltochten, 1 langs Hadrian's Wall, 1 van aan het huis van de auteur in Cumbria tot het huis van zijn vader in Schotland, is dit boek een ode. Een ode aan de hoogbejaarde vader van de auteur (flink in de 90), een ode aan Schotland en meer nog aan The Marches, een gebied tussen Engeland en Schotland dat eerder in de geschiedenis als een aparte regio werd gezien. De auteur gaat ook op zoek naar de geschiedenis van dit gebied, de herkomst van de plaatsnamen, wat de Romeinen, de Vikingen, de Northumbrians, de Kelten, ... er deden en hoe dit alles verder leeft in de overlevering en de tradities. Hij ontdekt echter dat geschiedenis evolueert, dat niets blijft zoals het is en dat de mooiste tradities zijn die je zelf maakt.

Stewart proves to be a captivating tour guide... He brings archaic languages and traditions vividly alive, wrestles with nationalism and nationhood and, in a poignant closing section, traces his father's war years and last days... Beautiful, evocative and wise, The Marches highlights new truths about old countries and the unbreakable bond between a father and son."-- Malcolm Forbes, MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2022-01-01 15:15:02 Boxid IA40085911 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier Moreover, Stewart combines his trekking observations with a tribute to his father -- a man who was an amazing example of a certain vigorous type of polymath and adventurer spawned by the British Empire -- and a deeply moving, bittersweet testimonial to the unusually close relationship between father and son. The book begins with Stewart's memories of his father as a child, and ends with his father's death at 93 in 2015. Ik weet niet of ik auteur of zijn vader in de dagelijkse omgang sympathiek zou gevonden hebben, maar dat doet er niet toe. Uit elke zin blijkt de liefde en de eerbied die zij voor elkaar voelen en dit wordt zéér goed overgebracht en mooi verwoord. Wat een rijkdom om zo een relatie met een ouder te mogen hebben. Ik was, toen het onvermijdelijke gebeurde, ook echt ontroerd. Stewart brings a humane empathy to his encounters with people and landscape."-- The Washington Post

Suggests an open-mindedness in Stewart, a tolerance and flexibility that could make him an exceptional politician while it also continues to define him as a writer’ New York Review of Books Stewart proves to be a captivating tour guide... He brings archaic languages and traditions vividly alive, wrestles with nationalism and nationhood and, in a poignant closing section, traces his father's war years and last days... Beautiful, evocative and wise, The Marches highlights new truths about old countries and the unbreakable bond between a father and son.”— Malcolm Forbes, MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE FROM MY BLOG). Hadrian's Wall, constructed by the Romans from A.D. 122 to about 128, crosses northern England from Newcastle, through Carlisle, to Bowness on the Solway Firth. In 2010, I followed the wall its entire length on foot. As a writer, Stewart has a fine sense of the nature of the physical spaces he traverses, as well as the human stories (past and present) that play out in these landscapes.” —SIGNATUREThe miracle of The Marches is not so much the treks Stewart describes, pulling in all possible relevant history, as the monument that emerges to his beloved father." -- New York Times Book Review Stewart reveals the force of myths and traditions and the endurance of ties that are woven into the fabric of the land itself. A meditation on deep history, the pull of national identity, and home, The Marches will be regarded as one of the best books of 2016. WAMC-FM, the Roundtable