Brightening from the East [Paperback]

InBrightening from the EastKen Worpole explores a unique ‘region of the mind’ – the Thames Estuary and the marshland landscapes of the East Anglian shoreline.

In this wide-ranging collection of essays, personal and historical, Worpole brings us the stories of radical communities, of arcadian dreams among the shabby plotlands of eastern England, of new ways of living. He ranges further afield too, writing on Italian cemeteries, Dutch landscape architects and the English twentieth century folk revival. Here Worpole convincingly argues that the Essex landscape has always been a refuge for new ideas, and a place where practical idealism could flourish, a place the world might learn from.

Brightening from the Eastalso contains Worpole’s influential essay, ‘The New English Landscape’.

GBKen Worpoleis a writer and social historian, and the author of many books on architecture, aesthetics, landscape and public policy. A founder member of the think-tanks Demos and Open Democracy, in recent years he has focused on post-industrial settlements, landscapes and communities, together with questions of English and regional identity. He is also the author ofNo Matter How Many Skies Have Fallen(2021).

One of the shrewdest and sharpest observers of the English social landscape. —The Independent

[Worpoles] Essex is a utopian palimpsest, the site of countless socialist and anarchist land colonies founded by dreamers and reformers. —Sukhdev Sandhu