The Matter of Wales

This passionate evocation of Wales by the author Rebecca West has hailed as "perhaps the best descriptive writer of our times" encapsulates that country in all its aspects, past, present, and even future. Jan Morris shows clearly the manners of thought of the Welch people, as well as their art, their landscapes and their folklore, their ways of earning a living, their character, their meaning and their historical destiny. Half Welsh, half English herself, Morris is a historian, a...
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This passionate evocation of Wales by the author Rebecca West has hailed as "perhaps the best descriptive writer of our times" encapsulates that country in all its aspects, past, present, and even future. Jan Morris shows clearly the manners of thought of the Welch people, as well as their art, their landscapes and their folklore, their ways of earning a living, their character, their meaning and their historical destiny. Half Welsh, half English herself, Morris is a historian, a travel writer, and an essayist. All three disciplines she brings to this work--a vivid tribute to a country not just on the map or in the mind but also in the heart. "All of us," Morris writes, "have some small country there."

"A dense, poetic, richly textured account of a land and a culture, passionate and extravagant in both location and spirit, almost hymnlike."--Washington Post Book World

"Ranks among her best books...the writing sparkles."--The New York Times

About the Author:

Jan Morris is the author of such books as the Pax Britannica trilogy, Spain, Destinations, and most recently, Journeys.

"With this book Morris joins the immortals. The splendors of the prose are, like Homer's sea, simply everywhere. She is an absolute master of the sentence."--Christian Science Monitor