PublishedSimon & Schuster, December 2017 |
ISBN9781471169298 |
FormatHardcover, 224 pages |
Dimensions25.8cm × 18.4cm |
Covering all continents, Damien Rudd explores the world's depressing place names and explore their etymology. The stories behind these sad topographies are interwoven narratives of history, landscape, exploration, mythology, local folklore and misadventure. From Disappointment Islandin the Southern Ocean to Calamity Lake in Minnesota, you can head up to All Alone in West Yorkshire, or if you're feeling more adventurous why not pay a visit to Crazy Woman Creek.
Sad Topographies navigates the terrains of historical fact and imaginative fiction, filling in the gaps where some of the etymologies have been lost over time in this collection of beautifully-illustrated maps. Poetic and dark-humoured, it's a celebration of our sad and melancholic cultural landscapes.
Containing stunning illustrations and a bespoke design, this is perfect for fans of Stories in the Stars or The Atlas of Remote Islands.
Bill is one of the founders of Boffins and has been involved in selecting the books we stock since our beginning in 1989. His favourite reading is history, with psychology, current affairs, and business books coming close behind. His hobbies are reading, food, reading, drinking, reading, and sleeping.
Who hasn’t wondered at how some places with very depressing or unusual names got them, or why? This fascinating book reveals all. There’s the story of the young Edward John Eyre’s attempt to find Australia’s inland sea, but ending up on a hilltop that looked out on barren salt pans in every direction. That’s why he called the hill Mount Hopeless. There’s a place on the Ohio River in the U.S.A. that was set up in the 1840s as a model community based on the ideas of the French philosopher Charles Fourier – involving collective living and labour, gender equality, mutual investment. A communist paradise! Not surprising that it was named Utopia .Except that during one of the worst floods of the nineteenth century, when the residents of Utopia were in their riverbank hall celebrating, they were swept down river and most drowned or died later of hypothermia. From collective living to collective dying. Most utopias seem to fail, but this was a very sad failure indeed – except for the name which is still there, mocking it all. In the north of England there’s a place – well, not really a place, I suppose, called No Place. It started in the late nineteenth century as a cluster of houses, and was given the name No Place because it wasn’t a legitimate town. As it’s grown, there have been attempts to rename it, but the locals have taken to their identity as No-Placers and the name has stuck. This book takes us on a delightful journey to odd and often obscure places, with unusual stories. Beautifully illustrated, in a smart hardcover edition, it’s a great Christmas choice for dispirited travellers.
