Canals: The Making of a Nation

Canals hold a unique place in British culture, with associations of lazy summer afternoons, journeying through lush green countryside. But as Liz McIvor explains in the book to accompany her BBC series, the story of these canals is also the story of how modern Britain was born. It was the canals that helped open up the trade of the Industrial Revolution, furthered the new science of geology, and even ushered in a new form of architecture. This unique exploration of Britain’s golden age is a modern tale full of high finance and greedy investors, cheap labour and the struggle for workers’ rights, and new frontiers in family and child welfare.