The Brother Gardeners

The Brother Gardeners

Softcover
4.02

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Description

One January morning in 1734, cloth merchant Peter Collinson hurried down to the docks at London's Custom House to collect cargo just arrived from John Bartram in the American colonies. But it was not bales of cotton that awaited him, but plants and seeds...

Over the next forty years, Bartram would send hundreds of American species to England, where Collinson was one of a handful of men who would foster a national obsession and change the gardens of Britain forever: Philip Miller, author of the bestselling Gardeners Dictionary; the Swede Carl Linnaeus, whose standardised botanical nomenclature popularised botany; the botanist-adventurer Joseph Banks and his colleague Daniel Solander who both explored the strange flora of Tahiti and Australia on Captain Cook's Endeavour.

This is the story of these men - friends, rivals, enemies, united by a passion for plants. Set against the backdrop of the emerging empire and the uncharted world beyond, The Brother Gardeners tells the story how Britain became a nation of gardeners.

Book Information

Main Genre
Specialized Books
Sub Genre
History & Archaeology
Format
Softcover
Pages
384
Price
15.50 €

Posts

2
All
4

* between 3.5 and 4 Stars This was a wonderful and enlightening book. The writing is beautiful and kept me entertained and excited for the whole of the book, all the while educating the reader about the history of botany and horticulture in England/the UK. The focus on this handful of influential, adventerous and passionate men made it easy to follow, and by the end I was really attached to them. BUT there is one big point of criticism I have: I would have wished for there to be more of "Empire". The very problematic and violent aspects as well as the notion of power fell way too short. I understand that this is a book aimed at the broader public and is supposed to be a light read, but nontheless I would have wished for a more critical approach. All in all, I now really want to visit the English Gardens and wander the paths of Miller, Collins, Banks and the like and admire the wonders of nature.

4

* between 3.5 and 4 Stars This was a wonderful and enlightening book. The writing is beautiful and kept me entertained and excited for the whole of the book, all the while educating the reader about the history of botany and horticulture in England/the UK. The focus on this handful of influential, adventerous and passionate men made it easy to follow, and by the end I was really attached to them. BUT there is one big point of criticism I have: I would have wished for there to be more of "Empire". The very problematic and violent aspects as well as the notion of power fell way too short. I understand that this is a book aimed at the broader public and is supposed to be a light read, but nontheless I would have wished for a more critical approach. All in all, I now really want to visit the English Gardens and wander the paths of Miller, Collins, Banks and the like and admire the wonders of nature.

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