Trace the garden as a source of inspiration and metaphor back through centuries of history. A wide variety of artists, writers, poets, thinkers, scientists, and more have characterized the garden in myriad ways: a place of harmony and fertility, separated from the world; a Biblical locale, primeval and rife with symbolic and spiritual significance. In today's day and age, the garden has unfortunately become a metaphor for humankind's entire relationship to the earth: we have influenced the planet to such a degree, and exercise such a great deal of influence over the planet, that we now must conceive of ourselves as gardeners—albeit somewhat incompetent ones—desperately trying to hold off the weeds of climate change and biodiversity collapse. A profoundly important and fascinating read for anyone who has their own experience of gardening, ecologists everywhere, and art historians and philosophers as well. A sprawling and timely volume.
