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The landed gentry have made England what it is, argues award-winning author Adam Nicolson. The virtues of honesty, affability, courtesy and liberality all had their origins in the life of the gentry. Nicolson looks at the history of 14 English families from 1400 to the present day. Some of the families are divided by politics, some took different sides during the Reformation and others destroyed their inheritance through reckless gambling or investments. Nicolson, a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, writes on history, travel and the environment. His works include Sissinghurst, Power and Glory and Seamanship. He lives at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent.