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RR 2014/169 A Cultural History of Gardens General editors Michael Leslie and John Dixon Hunt Bloomsbury London and New York, NY 2013 6 vols. ISBN 978 1 84788 265 3 £350 $550
Keywords Culture (sociology), Gardens, History
Review DOI 10.1108/RR-03-2014-0070
Over six books, a wide variety of historian academics share knowledge of their subject areas through the topic of gardens. Design, Types of Gardens, Plantings, Use and Reception, Meaning, Verbal Representations, Visual Representations and Gardens and the Larger Landscape are the common headings in each volume. Antiquity, The Medieval Age, The Renaissance, The Enlightenment, The Age of Empire and The Modern Age make up the six volumes which can be used as a set, whilst also being useful as a series of independent volumes informing the reader about a very particular aspect of each period of history.
By undertaking a study of gardens through history, the editors and contributors are opening up history to all takers from those with a general interest through to academics and researchers. The topics should also draw in those with an interest in or studying gardens. The wealth of information contained in these volumes is fascinating and vast; much of it is recorded history, but neglected history. In looking at the cultural history of gardens through the ages, we are looking at the culture of humanity and its actions. This is a cultural and a material history. It informs us about the significance of the garden, the impact of nature and the way in which humans have interacted with the word around them, using it for purposes from pleasure to medicine and much in between....