Man of Iron: Thomas Telford and the Building of Britain

“A biography of great verve . . . brings back to vivid life a man who should never have been forgotten” – Andrew Marr

“Glover has done detailed research and any other author will struggle to improve on his life of Telford . . . Man of Iron is a competent, interesting book about an engineer whose star . . . deserves to shine a little brighter.” – Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph

“An evocative biography of Britain’s greatest civil engineer . . . An evocative telling of an interesting life, an account that has lots to admire . . . Glover catches the thrill of Telford’s engineering quite beautifully.” – Guardian

“A strikingly clear portrait of the man who helped shape Britain . . . A beautifully-written biography, reading almost as a work of classic literature.” – Engineering & Technology

“Vivid, enthusiastic . . . Glover makes an enormously readable and persuasive case for Telford’s importance in our national story.” – Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

“Astonishing and inspiring . . . Mixing effortless prose with genuine insight has produced an immersive biography that proves hard to put down . . . The story of Thomas Telford is the story of modern Britain, and never has it been so well told.” – BBC Countryfile

“Glover has sailed across Telford’s aqueducts, walked his towpaths and tracked down his most obscure Scottish bridges [and his] dedication . . . has paid off.” – Harry Mount, Spectator

“Absorbing . . . [Glover’s] clear, concise style gives the plain-speaking Telford . . . a fitting literary treatment.” – Observer

“Glover has . . . been digging in the archives with Telfordian energy to produce a readable book about an overlooked man.” – Damian Whitworth, The Times

“This is a fine biography of a man of outstanding genius.” – Who Do You Think You Are?

“An engaging new biography which celebrates the achievements of the Borders boy who invented the modern road” – Sunday Post

“[Glover] has avoided hagiography in this engaging, evocative and very readable tale” – Financial Times

“Affectionate . . . His was a classic tale of self-help straight out of Samuel Smiles, with much of the romance of a Dickens tale.” – Literary Review

“Absorbing . . . As an account of a hugely talented and ambitious architect-engineer and the times in which he lived Glover’s book would be hard to better. Drawing from a wide range of sources, he paints a vivid picture of a man who was at once massively gifted, restless, ambitious, arrogant and utterly relentless in pursuit of his projects . . . A superb biography. Lengthy but rewarding, it sets Telford in the clash, clamour, stink and roar of Britain in the Georgian era . . . Glover has done well to revive the saga of Tam Telford.” – Herald