Yorkshire, it has been said, is ‘a continent unto itself’. It is southern Britain in microcosm, where mountain, plain, coast, downs, fen and heath lie side by side. Richard Morris weaves history, travelogue and ecology to explore this landscape in legend, literature and popular regard. Morris considers different ways to come to Yorkshire – in a poem, through an image, on holiday. We descend into the county’s netherworld of caves and mines, face episodes at once brave and dark, such as the part played by Whitby and Hull in emptying Arctic waters of whales, or the re-routing of rivers and destruction of Yorkshire’s fens. We are introduced to discoverers and inventions, meet people who came and went, encounter real and fabled heroes, and discover why, from the Iron Age to the Cold War, Yorkshire was such a key place in times of tension and struggle.