Description
Combining environmental history with a history of the relationships of engineering projects to political power and state-building, The Draining of the Fens deftly and lucidly crosses disciplinary boundaries. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this astute book is a gripping and highly original work of scholarship. -- Pamela O. Long, author of Artisan/Practitioners and the Rise of the New Sciences, 1400-1600
About the Author
Eric H. Ash is an associate professor of history at Wayne State University. He is the author of Power, Knowledge, and Expertise in Elizabethan England.
Reviews
Stunningly relevant and beautifully written . . . This remarkable book is about nation building, economics, and environmental and social history. It is thoroughly researched, and historian Ash tells his story in a compelling way that is accessible to any reader. Essential. All levels/libraries.
-Choice
Ash's book is a sound study of the drainage of one part of the southern fens over a period of less than a century that was without doubt the most formative era in its taming. It is well-written, informative, assiduously referenced with copious endnotes, and an excellent testimony to the wealth of documentation that survives in the archives.
-Environment and History
An excellent contribution to the history of engineering projects, particularly from an environmental and political point of view.
-Metascience
This comprehensive account is likely to become the standard textbook for the history of the Fens. It is thoroughly researched, drawing on a wide range of printed material in addition to archival sources including court records, petitions, correspondence, and state papers.
-Renaissance Quarterly
The book is certainly the account for our generation.
-American Historical Review
Ash's work will long remain an essential account of these important events.
-Journal of British Studies
Ash supplies a rousing narrative of 'improvement' schemes in the wetlands of eastern England, written in an engaging Whiggish style that imbues the early Stuart dynastic state.
-Journal of Modern History
Awards
Winner of CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2017 (United States).
Book Information
ISBN 9781421422008
Author Eric H. Ash
Format Hardback
Page Count 416
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 680g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 34mm