The Last Wolf

'A fascinating attempt to find the sources of Englishness . . . Well-crafted, reflective and quite personal, The Last Wolf is also original and deeply researched' Robert McCrum, Guardian

What sort of a place is England? And who are the English? As the United Kingdom turns away from its European neighbours and begins to look increasingly disunited at home, it is becoming necessary to ask what England has that is singular and its own. In The Last Wolf, Robert Winder spins an English tale. Travelling the country, he looks for its hidden springs not in royal pageantry or politics, but in landscape and history.

'Winder is at his best when tracing how one thing became another. His excellent description of the rise of Lancashire's enormous cotton industry triggers a discussion of the slave trade and English morality . . . fascinating twists and turns' The Times '[Winder] weaves a fabulous tale of wolves and sheep, water and coal, rain and agriculture, industry and architecture, pinpointing qualities that grew out of our landscape' Independent i