Frank Mitchell and Michael Ryan have successfully undertaken the task of giving in one book the story of the shaping of the land from the beginning of time until now, by all the varying forces of nature, sea, climate, man and machine. The story takes in the shaping of the crust, the movement of glaciers, the first men and their primitive agriculture, their buildings and their effects on the forests, the growth of bogs, new migrations, the rise of the monasteries of the Early Christians and the castles of conquest, the devastation of war, urban growth, modern agriculture and afforestation, all set against the backdrop of the landscape, arguably one of Ireland's most precious resources.