Being a Yorkshire lass born and bred, I was looking forward to reading this book, and what a delight it was.

An enlightening read, covering everything from the formation of Yorkshire millions of years ago through periods of mass emigration, the industrial revolution, up to the present day. All of this coloured by the addition of plenty of personal anecdotes and stories made it a highly recommended read for anyone with an interest in or connections with God's finest county!

It's England's largest county and one whose history encompasses every era of time. From the prehistoric creatures and landscape to the very modern, this book takes a trip around the wonderful diversity that is Yorkshire. At times Morris talks about very personal family history and at other times muses on landscape. Altogether it shows a picture of a diverse and wonderful part of the country and, yes I am biased, it is God's Own Country.

Years ago I read Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel which explained, among other things, how geography guided the way that civilizations, represented by guns and steel, spread around the world. Reading this book reminded me of this - the part that Yorkshire's geography, the rivers, hills, valleys and coasts, played in history. In where settlements were built, where roads led and where industry developed: which, in turn, led to art, poetry and literature, and, maybe more importantly, to the Yorkshire character. It is not a linear history - we move back and forth through time to a certain extent - and it isn't just about places. People feature strongly some, like J.B. Priestley or Winifred Holtby, well-known and others either known locally (like Richard Oastler in Bradford) or just to their families. Some should be better known, in my opinion, and, like so many good history books, this one has suggested lots of subjects I need to find out about. If you don't know much about Yorkshire then read this book: you'll learn a lot. And if you think you do know a lot about Yorkshire (am I looking at my other half here? possibly...) then still read this book: there's so much more to know than you think.