A Walk in the Park

"Flowerbeds and clipped green lawns, swings and roundabouts and mud-stained knees Parks are part of almost everybody's life. We walk the dog, we unfurl the picnic blanket, we kick the ball about. They seem so natural we might think they've always been there, and that they always will. A Walk in the Park is a loving history of these special places. It introduces us to land-grabbing monarchs, architectural pioneers and enlightened industrialists, anarchists and spies, squatters and hippies. It tells us how the roots of even the humblest neighbourhood park lie in age-old battles over land and liberty, and how we've used parks to not only relax, but to challenge authority and raise hell. And we learn why today parks remain extremely vulnerable spaces, whose future is worth fighting for. Sharp, witty and warm, packed with anecdote and surprise, this is a book which means you will never visit your local park in the same way again."