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Canals: The Making of a Nation
Canals: The Making of a Nation
Oct 7, 2024 12:29 PM

Author:Liz McIvor

Canals: The Making of a Nation

Canals hold a unique place in British culture, with associations of lazy summer afternoons, journeying through lush green countryside. But as Liz McIvor explains in the book to accompany her BBC series, the story of our canals is also the story of how modern Britain was born. It was the canals that helped open up the trade of the Industrial Revolution, furthered the new science of geology, and even ushered in a new form of architecture. The legacy of our canals is all around us.

In Canals: The Making of a Nation, McIvor takes us on a journey across the network of English canals to tell a deeper story of how our waterways changed our lives. It’s a very modern tale, full of high finance and greedy investors, cheap labour and the struggle for workers’ rights, and new frontiers in family and child welfare. It’s a unique and compelling exploration of Britain’s golden age.

Reviews

A galloping page-turner and a stark picture of a nation ruled by terror and unreason, which reads like a sinister rewrite of Alice in Wonderland

—— John Carey , Sunday Times

Packed with fascinating detail … vibrant authenticity and calm analysis

—— Claire Morrall , Independent on Sunday

Fascinating… [Finn and Couvée] manage to shed new light on both the period and the characters involved

—— Virginia Rounding , Financial Times

A compelling, seductively written tale of Cold War censorship and paranoia

—— Kate Williams , Independent

Excellent, superbly researched, and as exciting in its way as any Cold War thriller. Pasternak himself emerges clearly and strongly in all his complexity. This was the most important literary controversy of the post-war world, and Finn and Couvée have presented it with immense care and colour. The aftermath of the affair still has resonance even now

—— John Simpson

An extraordinary, gripping tale of art and espionage, The Zhivago Affair embodies the belief shared by its flamboyant cast of geniuses, barbarians, lovers and eccentrics: books matter

—— AD Miller, author of SNOWDROPS

[The Zhivago Affair] really is a thriller, a page turner

—— Vin Arthey , Scotland on Sunday

A fine contribution to our knowledge of what became known as the Pasternak affair

—— Robert Service , Times Literary Supplement

A you-couldn’t-make-it-up account of the CIA’s campaign to smuggle copies of Pasternak’s banned novel into the USSR

—— Mark Mason , Spectator

Beautifully crafted and scrupulously researched… The Zhivago Affair is a prime example of hard work and fidelity to a good story

—— Washington Post Sunday

As gripping as any spy thriller

—— Sunday Times

Fascinating...With a delightful eye for detail

—— Catherine Merridale , The Times

Finn and Couvée deal objectively with the characters involved and tell the story with exceptional vivacity

—— Literary Review

A thrilling literary espionage yarn...sheds new light on the Cold War struggle for the hearts and minds of millions of people

—— Michael Dobbs

A fascinating tale that sheds new light on the literary front of the Cold War

—— Stephen Coulson , Lady

High dudgeon, high stakes, high art

—— Robert Bound , Monocle

A wonderful book

—— Angus Roxburgh , The Herald

A fast-paced political thriller about a book that terrified a nation

—— Kirkus Reviews

Brisk and thrilling...expertly told...a triumphant reminder that truth is sometimes gloriously stranger than fiction

—— Publishers Weekly

Groundbreaking reporting and character-rich storytelling... Passionately written...almost makes one nostalgic for a time when novels were so important that even the CIA cared about them

—— Ken Kalfus

A sparkling and fascinating account

—— David E. Hoffman

Well-paced narrative...of great relevance today, when such conflicts seem (but only seem) to have disappeared.

—— Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Immensely compelling

—— Fred Hiatt , The Pat Banker

Meticulously researched

—— Duncan White , Irish Independent

The true strength of this meticulously researched book is the placing of the revelations into the context of a compelling human drama

—— Weekly Telegraph

Engrossing

—— Andrew Lynch , Sunday Business Post

[An] outstanding treasure of literature

—— Market Oracle

Impeccably researched, and moving, this book breaks new ground

—— 5 stars , Sunday Telegraph
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