Robert Winder

Three Rivers by Robert Winder explores the origins and significance of three of Europe’s greatest rivers: the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Po. These rivers begin in the same geological cradle, a fertile patch of high Alpine ice in the jagged heights of central Switzerland. The impact of this small fact is immense; together, these rivers not only symbolise the...

It is often assumed that the national identity must be a matter of values and ideas. But in Robert Winder's brilliantly-written account, it is a land built on a lucky set of natural ingredients: the island setting that made it maritime; the rain that fed the grass that nourished the sheep that provided the wool, and the wheat fields that...