by Adams, Max;
Part travelogue, part historical study that ‘reads’ Britain’s landscapes as its key text, In the Land of Giants offers a richly informative insight into the lives of kings, monks, ceorls, thegns and peasants during an enigmatic but exciting period of our island’s history.
* ‘Dies tenebrosa sicut nox’: entry for the year 447 in the Annales Cambriae, a tenth-century Welsh chronicle.
Reviews
THE KING IN THE NORTH
‘A triumph. The most gripping portrait of 7th-Century Britain that I have read... A Game of Thrones in the Dark Ages.’
The Times
‘The author has an engaging way with words, you feel personally guided in the quest.’
Newcastle Chronicle
‘In his handsome biography, Adams makes a powerful case for Oswald as the man who conceived a Northumbrian golden age.’
Newcastle Journal
‘A superb biography... a wonderfully vivid portrayal of early medieval England.’
The Hexham Courant
‘Max Adams’ The King in the North… pulls off the feat of providing a gripping, panoramic portrait of seventh-century Britain without cutting corners’
History Today
‘Max Adams is to be lauded for an engagingly populist and evocative book’
Literary Review
‘The King in the North, biographer Max Adams’ fascinating insight into the life of King Oswald after who the Oswestry is named... sold out on Wednesday.’
Shropshire Star
About Max Adams
MAX ADAMS studied archaeology at York University and has excavated widely in Britain and abroad, publishing more than thirty papers in academic and popular journals as well as several monographs. He has made a number of television programmes as the ‘Landscape Detective’ and co-convenes the Bernician Studies Group in Newcastle upon Tyne where he teaches in the Explore Lifelong Learning programme. His active research interests include the monastic geography of County Donegal in Ireland and the Dark Age landscapes of the North of England. He is the author of The Prometheans (2009), which was a Guardian Book of the Week, the bestselling The King in the North (2013) and The Wisdom of Trees (2014).
Also by Max Adams
The King in the North
A charismatic leader, a warrior whose prowess in battle earned him the epithet Whiteblade, an exiled prince who returned to claim his birthright, the inspiration for Tolkein’s Aragorn.
Oswald of Northumbria was the first great English monarch, yet today this legendary figure is all but forgotten. In this panoramic protrait of Dark Age Britain, archaeologist and biographer Max Adams returns the king in the North to his rightful place in history.
The King in the North is available here.
Jump to free preview here.
The Wisdom of Trees
Trees are marvels of nature. They are the earth’s lungs, climate-regulators and habitat-protectors. Ever since our prehistoric ancestors emerged from the forests of a drying Africa, trees have given us shelter, medicine, shade, food and fuel in abundance.
In an eclectic and beautifully written sequence of reflections, investigations, stories and tree profiles, Max Adams explores both the extraordinary biology of trees and humanity’s relationship with wood and forest across the centuries. He reveals why birch bark makes the best fire-lighter; why the fruits of the rowan must pass through a bird’s gut before its seeds can germinate; and how the wood of the venerable yew tree ensured that the English prevailed at Agincourt.
Embellished with images from the 1776 edition of John Evelyn’s arboreal classic Sylva, The Wisdom of Trees will delight anyone who cares about the natural world and our interaction with it.
The Wisdom of Trees is available here.
Admiral Collingwood: Nelson’s Own Hero
Admiral Lord Collingwood, the eldest son of a Newcastle merchant, went to sea in 1761 at the age of thirteen. In his nearly fifty years in the Navy he rose to become a fine seaman, a master of gunnery, and a battle commander the equal of his friend – and rival in love – Nelson. He was also an accomplished writer and wit, doting father, inveterate gossip and consummate diplomat and strategist.
Collingwood’s service took him to Boston, where he lived and fought during the American War of Independence; to Antigua, where he and Nelson both fell in love with Mary Moutray; and to Corsica, Sicily and Menorca, where he began as a young midshipman and ended his career as the effective viceroy of the Mediterranean.
Admiral Collingwood is an intimate portrait of a forgotten British naval hero and a thrilling portrait of the glory years of the age of sail.
Admiral Collingwood: Nelson’s Own Hero is available here.
A Letter from the Publisher
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The story starts here.
First published in 2015 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Max Adams 2015
The moral right of Max Adams to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (HB) 9781784080341
ISBN (E) 9781784080327
Jacket design: Leo Nickolls
Author photograph: Sarah Annesley
Head of Zeus Ltd
Clerkenwell House
45-47 Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
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