Publisher's Synopsis
A comprehensive study and documentation of the growth of the National Trust covering its internal wranglings, dealings with the government, and a diverse range of people from Beatrix Potter to Bernard Shaw. Celebrating it centenary, this is a record of the institution's achievements.;The National Trust has become the largest private landowner in the country. From its early concern with the countryside and with the preservation of common land, it has come to embrace historic houses, gardens, prehistoric monuments and coastline.;The decline of the landed classes, increases in death duties and changes of lifestyle over the past hundred years, particularly since World War I, have increased the responsibilities of the Trust. It has become the guardian of the nation's heritage.
