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Founding Gardeners
The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation
1 of 1 copy available
For the Founding Fathers, gardening, agriculture, and botany were elemental passions: a conjoined interest as deeply ingrained in their characters as the battle for liberty and a belief in the greatness of their new nation.
Founding Gardeners is an exploration of that obsession, telling the story of the revolutionary generation from the unique perspective of their lives as gardeners, plant hobbyists, and farmers. Acclaimed historian Andrea Wulf describes how George Washington wrote letters to his estate manager even as British warships gathered off Staten Island; how a tour of English gardens renewed Thomas Jefferson’s and John Adams’s faith in their fledgling nation; and why James Madison is the forgotten father of environmentalism. Through these and other stories, Wulf reveals a fresh, nuanced portrait of the men who created our nation.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 29, 2011 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780307881236
- File size: 269044 KB
- Duration: 09:20:30
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Antonia Bath's crisp and energetic reading of Andrea Wulf's splendid history of the gardens of the Founding Fathers will enthrall even those who aren't gardening buffs. Wulf's approach demonstrates how a highly focused theme can illuminate a much broader landscape and how a common perspective shared by Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison shaped their idea of the new nation they were creating. Bath keeps pace with a text that is heavily factual yet elegant in its phrasing, precise but in no way pretty or pedantic. Her British inflections may seem misplaced for a text so frankly critical of British trade policy toward the struggling young republic. But Wulf is British by way of Germany, and like the figures she writes about, she speaks as a citizen of the world. For gardeners, especially, this is an excellent production. D.A.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine -
February 21, 2011
Not only did Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison operate farms, all believed agriculture was the noblest occupation and the foundation of democracy. All loved to talk about it, write about it, and spend leisure time (between building a nation) inspecting local farms. Scholars have not ignored this, but British design historian Wulf (The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession) focuses on the agricultural passion that also reflected the political convictions of America's founders. Even while fighting the Revolution and governing the nation, Washington bombarded the manager of his beloved Mount Vernon with detailed instructions and insisted on prompt replies. During years of diplomatic service overseas, Adams and Jefferson toured private gardens and studied the latest agricultural techniques. This obsession went beyond the personal, influencing the design of Washington, D.C., and the White House, where Jefferson wanted only native shrubs and trees. Detailed botanical descriptions, garden layouts, and crop yields of their estates may appeal more to fans of horticulture than of history, but Wulf offers a delightful new perspective on the men we usually associate more with politics than with plants. 16 pages of color illus.; 19 b&w illus.
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