Rachel Hewitt
Author of Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey
Works by Rachel Hewitt
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Oxford (BA, MSt)
University of London (PhD) - Short biography
- Rachel came to Wolfson College in October 2011, to continue her Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship, and to take up the Weinrebe Fellowship in Life-Writing. She is a member of the English faculty, and attached to the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing (OCLW) at Wolfson College.
Her research is concerned with Enlightenment and Romantic biography. Her first book, Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey, charted the early life of Britain's national mapping agency. Her current research concerns the emotional impact of the French Revolution.
She is one of the ten New Generation Thinkers selected by the BBC and AHRC to disseminate their research through radio and festivals. - Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Map Location
- United Kingdom
Members
Reviews
I had to DNF this book. I really really wanted to like it, and I tried hard for about 300 pages, but ultimately when the thought of continuing on made me feel queasy, I decided that enough is enough.
The author is trying too hard to make this book be an Everything book. I wasn't looking for a book on Everything. I wanted to read a book about badass women from the late 19th century who were outside being awesome. Instead, this book is about (1) the author's grief (2) the author's running (3) show more the author's grief (4) sometimes we learn about cool women from the 19th century (5) the author's grief (6) how awful it is to be a women (7) the author's grief (8) scary statistics about being female today (9) the author's grief.
Having just lost two very important people in my life last year, I get the desire to unload grief everywhere. It's omnipresent and hard to shake. Maybe that's also why I was in no mood to listen to the author unload her own grief in this book. Like, lady, I can't. Also, that's not why I picked up a book called "In Her Nature: How Women Break Boundaries in the Great Outdoors" (not "Rachel Hewitt Lost Five Family Members: A Memoir and Rant").
Also, while I don't disagree that sexism is still pervasive in twenty-twenty-freaking-four, the scaremongering about how awful it is to go outdoors is a pet peeve of mine. I'm tired of people saying that I'm going to get assaulted if I go outside. You know what that does? That scares me away from claiming my rightful space in the outdoors. I refuse to be fear mongered to. Granted, I am privileged to live in a safe area. I acknowledge that. But still, freaking stop. Also: not what I was expecting to read about in a book that is nominally about badass historical sportswomen.
So, if you have any desire to read about badass women mountaineers from the 19th century and have no desire to skim, SKIP THIS BOOK. show less
The author is trying too hard to make this book be an Everything book. I wasn't looking for a book on Everything. I wanted to read a book about badass women from the late 19th century who were outside being awesome. Instead, this book is about (1) the author's grief (2) the author's running (3) show more the author's grief (4) sometimes we learn about cool women from the 19th century (5) the author's grief (6) how awful it is to be a women (7) the author's grief (8) scary statistics about being female today (9) the author's grief.
Having just lost two very important people in my life last year, I get the desire to unload grief everywhere. It's omnipresent and hard to shake. Maybe that's also why I was in no mood to listen to the author unload her own grief in this book. Like, lady, I can't. Also, that's not why I picked up a book called "In Her Nature: How Women Break Boundaries in the Great Outdoors" (not "Rachel Hewitt Lost Five Family Members: A Memoir and Rant").
Also, while I don't disagree that sexism is still pervasive in twenty-twenty-freaking-four, the scaremongering about how awful it is to go outdoors is a pet peeve of mine. I'm tired of people saying that I'm going to get assaulted if I go outside. You know what that does? That scares me away from claiming my rightful space in the outdoors. I refuse to be fear mongered to. Granted, I am privileged to live in a safe area. I acknowledge that. But still, freaking stop. Also: not what I was expecting to read about in a book that is nominally about badass historical sportswomen.
So, if you have any desire to read about badass women mountaineers from the 19th century and have no desire to skim, SKIP THIS BOOK. show less
I know the exact moment I fell in love with this book. It came on page fifteen of the prologue, wherein Rachel Hewitt describes the debacle of a manhunt that followed the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. For want of a decent map of Scotland, England's fearsome army was led a merry chase across the Highlands by a half-lame septuagenarian and managed to lose "Bonnie" Prince Charles altogether. Charles's defeat came at the Battle of Culloden, famous for being the last pitched battle fought on the show more British Isles, and infamous for the bloodthirsty zeal of the English troops during and following the battle.
The English army annihilated the two thousand or so Scotsmen in around forty five minutes, and for anyone not quite sure how long forty five minutes is, Rachel Hewitt explains that it's "the time it takes to enjoy a soak in the bath". Upon reading this unlikely comparison between a scene of unimaginable bloodshed and a Cadbury's Flake advert, my eyebrows and jaw raced away from one another. Once I'd dragged down the former and pulled up the latter, I let out a sound somewhere between a snort of appreciation for the outrageous analogy and a snigger of expectation at what other delights the book would hold.
The story of the Ordnance Survey maps turns out to be a fascinating one, and Hewitt tells it brilliantly. Not since Longitude have I been so enthralled by such a dry sounding subject, but not even Dava Sobel wrote this well. The book is always comprehensive but never too slow nor patronising, and has many a nice personal touch as well. The characters that brought the Survey to life are herein brought to life themselves, and thanks to some well placed and never smarmy personal recollections of the author, the book itself almost has a life of its own.
The subject matter might not be to everyone's tastes, but maps aside it's a riveting tale of human triumph over and alongside nature and the elements with some intriguing cameos and some genuinely touching drama. And surely everyone appreciates a book with all that. show less
The English army annihilated the two thousand or so Scotsmen in around forty five minutes, and for anyone not quite sure how long forty five minutes is, Rachel Hewitt explains that it's "the time it takes to enjoy a soak in the bath". Upon reading this unlikely comparison between a scene of unimaginable bloodshed and a Cadbury's Flake advert, my eyebrows and jaw raced away from one another. Once I'd dragged down the former and pulled up the latter, I let out a sound somewhere between a snort of appreciation for the outrageous analogy and a snigger of expectation at what other delights the book would hold.
The story of the Ordnance Survey maps turns out to be a fascinating one, and Hewitt tells it brilliantly. Not since Longitude have I been so enthralled by such a dry sounding subject, but not even Dava Sobel wrote this well. The book is always comprehensive but never too slow nor patronising, and has many a nice personal touch as well. The characters that brought the Survey to life are herein brought to life themselves, and thanks to some well placed and never smarmy personal recollections of the author, the book itself almost has a life of its own.
The subject matter might not be to everyone's tastes, but maps aside it's a riveting tale of human triumph over and alongside nature and the elements with some intriguing cameos and some genuinely touching drama. And surely everyone appreciates a book with all that. show less
I know the exact moment I fell in love with this book. It came on page fifteen of the prologue, wherein Rachel Hewitt describes the debacle of a manhunt that followed the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. For want of a decent map of Scotland, England's fearsome army was led a merry chase across the Highlands by a half-lame septuagenarian and managed to lose "Bonnie" Prince Charles altogether. Charles's defeat came at the Battle of Culloden, famous for being the last pitched battle fought on the show more British Isles, and infamous for the bloodthirsty zeal of the English troops during and following the battle.
The English army annihilated the two thousand or so Scotsmen in around forty five minutes, and for anyone not quite sure how long forty five minutes is, Rachel Hewitt explains that it's "the time it takes to enjoy a soak in the bath". Upon reading this unlikely comparison between a scene of unimaginable bloodshed and a Cadbury's Flake advert, my eyebrows and jaw raced away from one another. Once I'd dragged down the former and pulled up the latter, I let out a sound somewhere between a snort of appreciation for the outrageous analogy and a snigger of expectation at what other delights the book would hold.
The story of the Ordnance Survey maps turns out to be a fascinating one, and Hewitt tells it brilliantly. Not since Longitude have I been so enthralled by such a dry sounding subject, but not even Dava Sobel wrote this well. The book is always comprehensive but never too slow nor patronising, and has many a nice personal touch as well. The characters that brought the Survey to life are herein brought to life themselves, and thanks to some well placed and never smarmy personal recollections of the author, the book itself almost has a life of its own.
The subject matter might not be to everyone's tastes, but maps aside it's a riveting tale of human triumph over and alongside nature and the elements with some intriguing cameos and some genuinely touching drama. And surely everyone appreciates a book with all that. show less
The English army annihilated the two thousand or so Scotsmen in around forty five minutes, and for anyone not quite sure how long forty five minutes is, Rachel Hewitt explains that it's "the time it takes to enjoy a soak in the bath". Upon reading this unlikely comparison between a scene of unimaginable bloodshed and a Cadbury's Flake advert, my eyebrows and jaw raced away from one another. Once I'd dragged down the former and pulled up the latter, I let out a sound somewhere between a snort of appreciation for the outrageous analogy and a snigger of expectation at what other delights the book would hold.
The story of the Ordnance Survey maps turns out to be a fascinating one, and Hewitt tells it brilliantly. Not since Longitude have I been so enthralled by such a dry sounding subject, but not even Dava Sobel wrote this well. The book is always comprehensive but never too slow nor patronising, and has many a nice personal touch as well. The characters that brought the Survey to life are herein brought to life themselves, and thanks to some well placed and never smarmy personal recollections of the author, the book itself almost has a life of its own.
The subject matter might not be to everyone's tastes, but maps aside it's a riveting tale of human triumph over and alongside nature and the elements with some intriguing cameos and some genuinely touching drama. And surely everyone appreciates a book with all that. show less
One of the most fascinating books I have read for a long time, with the added savour of utter serendipity. I stumbled across it by chance and decided to give it a go.
On the face of it a history of the Ordnance Survey might not sound particularly enthralling but in fact this book proved utterly gripping. Starting in the months immediately following the defeat of the Jacobite army at Culloden it covers the various attempts, driven by military necessity, to develop a reliable system of maps to show more enable the government more comprehensively to know about the exact extent and nature of the country, and how local and regional issues might more readily be addressed.
The whole process encompassed mastery of geometry, trigonometry, engineering, astronomy, geology and geography, and was eventually to take decades. As was the case with so much government policy during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was a fair peppering of Francophobia thrown in too, which is never wholly ungratifying!
This is another of those technical histories, in the tradition of Dava Sobel's "Longitude" or Mark Kurlansky's "Cod", which repay the reader's curiosity, and might just prove to be an unforeseen commercial success. I certainly hope so. show less
On the face of it a history of the Ordnance Survey might not sound particularly enthralling but in fact this book proved utterly gripping. Starting in the months immediately following the defeat of the Jacobite army at Culloden it covers the various attempts, driven by military necessity, to develop a reliable system of maps to show more enable the government more comprehensively to know about the exact extent and nature of the country, and how local and regional issues might more readily be addressed.
The whole process encompassed mastery of geometry, trigonometry, engineering, astronomy, geology and geography, and was eventually to take decades. As was the case with so much government policy during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was a fair peppering of Francophobia thrown in too, which is never wholly ungratifying!
This is another of those technical histories, in the tradition of Dava Sobel's "Longitude" or Mark Kurlansky's "Cod", which repay the reader's curiosity, and might just prove to be an unforeseen commercial success. I certainly hope so. show less
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 3
- Members
- 523
- Popularity
- #47,533
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 20
- ISBNs
- 10