Simon Winchester's purchase of a plot of land triggers an epiphany. The desire to acquire land just as he has is a major driver of modern history. The acquisition, protection, and need for land have driven war, colonization, engineering projects, and strife. He takes a sample from human history in each chapter to make his points.

The chapters become more random musings rather than a coherent whole. These are interesting facts, but it seems to lack critical analysis. Historically, land acquisition has come from war. Changing borders, killing civilians, and the massacre of foreigners go hand in hand with land acquisition. These concepts rarely afford a chapter here. We get one chapter on the Oklahoma land rush where he crams the subjugation of indigenous peoples to explain the land rush, but not enough focus is on the people it impacts.

It was difficult to get through this book after reading The Indigenous People's History of the United States, Thomas Piketty's Capital and Ideology, or even Lenin's Imperialism: The Highest Form of Capitalism. Even his own purchase of land seems to escape his own scrutiny. A big book with not enough critical analysis.

Listen to my interview and read my show notes on this book:
https://www.writersvoice.net/2021/04/simon-winchester-land-isabella-tree-wilding/

I really enjoyed reading this book. The author looks at the history of land ownership though history. I enjoyed the humor and the history. I learned a lot by reading this book. There are a few illustrations to accompany the text. The book is well written and easy to read. Enjoy

This latest book by Simon Winchester attempts to cover a broad subject, perhaps too broad, for human’s relationship with land. While there are many facts and tidbits gleaned in this book, it is not long enough to cover the world entirely. Huge parts of land are missing, notably South America, most islands, much of Asia and Europe. He focuses instead on points here and there, he narrows in and those parts I thoroughly enjoyed. One that struck me particularly is with the Netherlands, creating new land and their building of new land in the 1980s, by taking it away from the North Sea away, creating a new province of Flevoland.

I found the book was well organized, yet each section could have more breath. Also, once could argue there was no rhyme or reason to why certain points on the map were covered and other areas skipped. When confronted with native people’s being disposed of their land, and the attempts to recover it, well definitely Winchester could have written more, and perhaps with more compassion. He certainly seems to take affront at how much land is owned by so few in Britain, and rightly so.

Don’t expect the book to be through, but there is much here that can have you asking, just how much land does one need?

Amazing research of history, anthropology, geology, sociology of property, land, and settlements. Definitely a must-read for any person interested in the social and natural history of land, property-owning, and adjusting living, habits, and beliefs associated with a piece of physical land.
Sincerely adore and am fascinated by the first part of the book, where a historical background of humankind movements and settlements are presented, anthropology and natural history.
Though I personally do not like the narrative of the book with anecdotes, I still consider this book an impressive and influential account of a very human behavior: owning and living in a specific piece of land.

"Land" is the story of people's relationship with and to the land, across both time and the globe with the big question being: "what does it mean to "own" the land?" Winchester examines how European invaders have destroyed both the land and the people who originally inhabited it wherever they went. He informs us of the few mega-rich who own tremendous amounts of land. The Highland Clearances and today's radical Scottish attempts to make land owned by the communities instead of individuals. The Soviet Union's genocide in Ukraine over land and Communist farming methods. Then wraps it all up by reminding the reader that, despite what they might think, land is not forever. It changes, it grows, and during these times of global warming, it drowns.

All in all, a depressing book that wasn't as interesting or as informative as I had anticipated, and one where I skimmed a lot because Winchester seemed to be trying to fit ten or more examples into any given sentence where two or three would do.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an electric ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In his latest Land: The Ownership of Everywhere, Simon Winchester writes of the draw and desire that humans have to own, control and make worth of the solid surface under our feet. Starting with his own purchase of acreage in New York State, Winchester shows how our Continent's came be, how the came to be owned and how they came to be divided, with valued added. What is the feeling that comes of owning land, and how can the same land fluctuate in price from valuable to worthless in a short period of time. As with all of Winchester us books the research shows throughout, but never loses a sense of yes I am as amazed as you are, conversational style.