A novel of the 20th century in which the greatest thinkers and personalities engage in a two-week tennis tournament.
"If you didn't know better you'd think this city had gone crazy. The streets of Paris are full of celebrities and media, and out at the stadium the crowds are already huge as players pound the practice courts in preparation for the greatest tournament of the modern era. At the airport, where they've opened three more runways and put on extra staff, players and officials have been arriving like migrating birds. From all corners they've come, the stars of the modern game....

Clarke covers a remarkable number of topics, including geographic factors in the choice of agricultural land, land acquisition and clearance, energy expended in clearing and planting the land, and selection of specific crops and their extent and yields in particular combinations of soils. He also investigates the geographic parameters for wheat production - which drove the local economy - and the cultural origins of farmers as it relates to their use of intensive and extensive agriculture. Brimming with detail and expert analysis, The Ordinary People of Essex is an illuminating study of...