Four years ago, the author of The Discovery of France moved to a house near the southern boundary of the legendary Debatable Land, which long served as a buffer between Scotland and England. Fought over by Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and James V, it became the last part of Great Britain to be brought under the control of the state, but today, it has vanished from the map. Curious about its reality, Graham Robb traveled on foot and by bicycle, uncovering lost towns, voyaging in time from the Roman occupation—when neither England nor Scotland existed—to the present day, when contemporary nationalism and political turmoil threaten to unsettle cross-border relations once more. With his customary charm, wit, and literary grace, Robb proves the Debatable Land to be a crucial, missing piece in the puzzle of British history.