Mathijs Deen - Böcker

"A joy to read" Times Literary Supplement"[A] stirring and accessible history of the mighty Rhine" Irish Times"It's easy to be swept away by Deen's delightful prose" New Statesman"A beautiful book, by turns poetic, witty and full of learning . . . This unique biography of a river marks a new kind of writing about people and place, both in and out of time" PATRICK McGUINNESSThe Boundless River takes the reader into a unique world ‒ the twilight zone between fact and fiction, science and imagination ‒ and on a journey which moves effortlessly from a time in prehistory, long before the existence of a European continent, to the present day. Along the way Deen encounters paleontologists, geologists, museum curators, taxidermists, fishermen and skippers who work the boats, who still see the Rhine as a living entity.From the mighty hippos that swam in its waters millions of years ago, to the weary salmon that saw their habitat slowly change and the aurochs that grazed its shores; from the primordial Steinheim Woman to the Roman general Corbulo who commanded settlements along its delta, to a young Goethe: in all of their stories the Rhine is ever present, sometimes as the main character, sometimes as an extra, as a theatre of war, a border between nations, a bathing spot, a killer, a vital transport route.Beautifully fluid, rich and captivating, The Boundless River shows how the Rhine connects and divides, terrifies, comforts, carries and swallows, and has done since the beginning of time.Translated from the Dutch by Jane Hedley-Prôle and Jonathan Reeder

"A joy to read" Times Literary Supplement"[A] stirring and accessible history of the mighty Rhine" Irish Times"It's easy to be swept away by Deen's delightful prose" New Statesman"A beautiful book, by turns poetic, witty and full of learning " PATRICK McGUINNESSThe Boundless River takes the reader into a unique world ‒ the twilight zone between fact and fiction, science and imagination ‒ and on a journey which moves effortlessly from a time in prehistory, long before the existence of a European continent, to the present day. Along the way Deen encounters paleontologists, geologists, museum curators, taxidermists, fishermen and skippers who work the boats, who still see the Rhine as a living entity.From the mighty hippos that swam in its waters millions of years ago, to the weary salmon that saw their habitat slowly change and the aurochs that grazed its shores; from the primordial Steinheim Woman to the Roman general Corbulo who commanded settlements along its delta, to a young Goethe: in all of their stories the Rhine is ever present, sometimes as the main character, sometimes as an extra, as a theatre of war, a border between nations, a bathing spot, a killer, a vital transport route.Beautifully fluid, rich and captivating, The Boundless River shows how the Rhine connects and divides, terrifies, comforts, carries and swallows, and has done since the beginning of time.Translated from the Dutch by Jane Hedley-Prôle and Jonathan Reeder

"A joy to read" Times Literary Supplement"[A] stirring and accessible history of the mighty Rhine" Irish Times"It's easy to be swept away by Deen's delightful prose" New Statesman"A beautiful book, by turns poetic, witty and full of learning . . . This unique biography of a river marks a new kind of writing about people and place, both in and out of time" PATRICK McGUINNESSThe Boundless River takes the reader into a unique world ‒ the twilight zone between fact and fiction, science and imagination ‒ and on a journey which moves effortlessly from a time in prehistory, long before the existence of a European continent, to the present day. Along the way Deen encounters paleontologists, geologists, museum curators, taxidermists, fishermen and skippers who work the boats, who still see the Rhine as a living entity.From the mighty hippos that swam in its waters millions of years ago, to the weary salmon that saw their habitat slowly change and the aurochs that grazed its shores; from the primordial Steinheim Woman to the Roman general Corbulo who commanded settlements along its delta, to a young Goethe: in all of their stories the Rhine is ever present, sometimes as the main character, sometimes as an extra, as a theatre of war, a border between nations, a bathing spot, a killer, a vital transport route.Beautifully fluid, rich and captivating, The Boundless River shows how the Rhine connects and divides, terrifies, comforts, carries and swallows, and has done since the beginning of time.Translated from the Dutch by Jane Hedley-Prôle and Jonathan Reeder

"This is the E8," my father said. "It runs from London to Moscow."For a million years people have been travelling throughout Europe, from the mysterious homo antecessor who left his footprints on the coast of England to travellers on the motorways of today. Under every footstep lies an older one, under every paved road a donkey trail or wagon rut, under every footpath the prints of a hunter or his prey.And yet the long, nation-spanning roads of Europe don't hold a special place in the imaginations and identities of its residents. No classic songs have been written about the E8, the way Americans have written about Route 66. Are Europeans too attached to their own home patch? Or have they too often seen armies marching towards them along those roads?Eager to answer that question, Mathijs Deen goes in search of the warriors, refugees, bandits, pilgrims, fortune-seekers, conquerors and racers who advanced into history along the roads of Europe. From Boekelo in the Netherlands to Smolensk on the Dnieper, and from the first prehistoric Europeans to the barons who raced the open roads of Europe in the early 20th century, Down Old Roads is both a journey through Europe and a trip through time."It's easy to be swept away by Deen's delightful prose" New Statesman on The Boundless RiverTranslated from the Dutch by Jane Hedley-Prole and Jonathan Reeder