Ancient monuments have forever captured our attention. We stand in awe before them, wondering what secrets are hidden between the layers of white chalk that make up the Uffington White Horse, the Cerne Abbas Giant and the Long Man of Wilmington? And what stories were shared among the towering standing sarsens of Stonehenge or against Hadrian''s Wall? Uncovering the enduring mystery of Britain''s ancient sites , award-winning writer Peter Ross once again invites readers to sit beside him as he celebrates their influence on art, culture and society, explores the way their meaning has remained or evolved since their inception and simply delights in their magic. Combing historical research and archaeological insights with stories from people to whom these sites are particularly important, Upon A White Horse journeys into the deep past of Britain''s unconquerable and strange landscape. PRAISE FOR STEEPLE CHASING: ''A delicious treat'' - Financial Times ''A charming odyssey'' - The Times ''Lovely, lyrical, whimsical, elegiac'' - TLS ''Engaging'' - New Statesman ''A wonderful book'' - Daily Telegraph

Autorentext

Peter Ross is an Orwell journalism fellow. His writing has appeared in national newspapers and magazines in the UK and US. He won the non-fiction prize at Scotland's National Book Awards with A Tomb With A View: The Stories & Glories of Graveyards, and his next book, Steeple Chasing, was a Sunday Times bestseller and was selected as Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month. He is also author of the collections Daunderlust and The Passion Of Harry Bingo. He lives in Glasgow.

Klappentext

'I'm a card-carrying admirer of Peter Ross' - Robert Macfarlane

**The prehistoric sites of Britain and Ireland are places of wonder and wondering. Who made these structures? What did they mean to them? And what do they mean to us now?

Author of the bestseller Steeple Chasing and prize-winning A Tomb With A View, Peter Ross journeys from midwinter at Stonehenge to midsummer at Sycamore Gap. Along the way he encounters bog bodies in Dublin, a wooden goddess in Edinburgh and a chalk giant in Dorset. He asks what it is like to live within the great stone circle at Avebury, what rituals occurred in an Anglesey tomb and what draws volunteers to care for the Uffington White Horse.

These objects and structures speak of the long human story. They offer the comfort of recognition and the pleasure of mystery. There is something about ancient places that fills a hollow in our souls.

Upon A White Horse is a celebration of landscape and people - and all that is beautiful, strange and old.

PRAISE FOR STEEPLE CHASING:

'A delicious treat' - Financial Times

'A charming odyssey' - The Times

'Lovely, lyrical, whimsical, elegiac' - TLS

'Engaging' - New Statesman

'A wonderful book' - Daily Telegraph