Bill Laws
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Bill Laws is a British writer and editor based in Herefordshire, England, whose career has spanned journalism, editing, and non-fiction publishing focused on gardens, plants, and rural history. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, BBC, The Telegraph and The Guardian and is former editor of Britain's national magazine for Gypsies and Travellers, Travellers' Times. The author of more than 20 books, he has also written a history of World War One.
Laws built his reputation as a knowledgeable and engaging popular historian of horticulture and the countryside, producing illustrated volumes such as "Fifty Plants That Changed the Course of History," "Fifty Railways that Changed the Course of History," and "A History of the Garden in Fifty Tools." He is the author of numerous books, including Common Losses: Essays and Interviews on Trees, Woods and the Green Man, commissioned by the environmental arts group Common Ground, and Spade, Skirret and Parsnip: The Curious History of Vegetables. Critics have praised his approachable, anecdote-rich style; the Washington Post noted that "Laws examines the history and cultural bearing of everything from a cloche to a lawn mower, and he understands that gardeners form deep attachments to the tools they use".
"Irish Country Style: A Celebration of Ireland's Enduring Charms" reflects this same sensibility applied to the Irish landscape and vernacular architecture, pairing Laws's text with extensive photography celebrating rural Irish life. Well-illustrated, richly researched lifestyle and heritage titles of this kind by established non-fiction authors like Laws are often sought after by collectors of illustrated books on gardening, countryside, and cultural history, particularly given his standing as a widely published specialist writer in this genre.
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