American Eden: From Monticello to Central Park to Our Backyards: What Our Gardens Tell Us About Who We Are

Wade Graham

Harper Collins, Apr 5, 2011 - Gardening - 480 pages

“American Eden moves luminously through landscapes of history, literature, biography, and design theory. . . . fusing sharp-edged analysis and graceful American prose.” —Kevin Starr, author of Golden Gate: The Life and Times of America's Greatest Bridge

“Informative and absolutely engrossing.”  —Ross King, author of Brunelleschi's Dome 

Garden designer and historian Wade Graham offers a unique vision of the story of America in this riveting exploration of the nation’s gardens and the visionaries behind them, from Thomas Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello to Michelle Obama’s vegetable garden, Fredrick Law Olmsted’s expansive Central Park to Martha Stewart’s how-to landscaping guides. In the tradition of Mark Kurlansky, Simon Schama, and Michael Pollan, Graham delivers a sweeping social history that examines our nation’s history from an overlooked vantage point, illuminating anew the living drama of American self-creation.

Contents

• Five CALIFORNIA AND THE MODERN: 14
• SUBURBIA: 55
• Four FORWARD TO THE PAST: 171
• MONEY: 349
• Acknowledgments: 405
• Bibliography: 423
• Index: 439

About the author

Wade Graham is a Los Angeles–based garden designer, historian, and writer whose work on the environment, landscape, urbanism, and the arts has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s, the Los Angeles Times, Outside, and other publications. An adjunct professor of public policy at Pepperdine University, he is the author of American Eden: From Monticello to Central Park to Our Backyards: What Our Gardens Tell Us About Who We Are.

Bibliographic information

• Title: American Eden: From Monticello to Central Park to Our Backyards: What Our Gardens Tell Us About Who We Are
• Author: Wade Graham
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Harper Collins, 2011
• ISBN: 0062078860, 9780062078865
• Length: 480 pages
• Subjects: Architecture / History / General; Architecture / Interior Design / General; Architecture / Landscape; Gardening / Container; Gardening / Garden Design; Gardening / Garden Furnishings; Gardening / Greenhouses; Gardening / Lawns; History / United States / 19th Century; History / United States / General