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Wilderlands

The Human History of Wild Britain

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Wilderlands

By: Eloise Kane
Narrated by: Eloise Kane
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Summary

'It will radically change what you thought about 'wilderness'. CAT JARMAN

'A beautiful, deep and grounded book.' ALICE ROBERTS

When was Britain last truly wild? And what, if anything, remains? This is the unexpectedly
human history of wild Britain.

In Wilderlands, archaeologist Eloise Kane unearths 12,000 years of our changing relationship with and influence on the landscape. Through prehistory, Roman occupation, the Middle Ages and beyond, we see the unfamiliar beasts of our old wild make way for species such as brown hare and fallow deer, now romanticised as eternal symbols of the British countryside, but introduced much later than we might think.

Places free from our influence haven't existed for a very long time. But Eloise Kane invites us to rethink our definition of the wild - not as separate from us. Seen anew as the result of millions of human lives lived, Wilderlands demonstrates how we are integral to the ecology and biodiversity of our land - with the power to shape its future.

©2026 Eloise Kane (P)2026 Faber & Faber
Animals Biological Sciences Ecology Europe Great Britain Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science
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A balanced and evidence based account of the origins of the UK’s wilder locations that places humankind at the centre of the development of even the wildest places.

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