Synopses & Reviews
The 1890s saw a revolution in advertising. Cheap paper, faster printing, rural mail delivery, railroad shipping, and chromolithography combined to pave the way for the first modern, mass-produced catalogs. The most prominent of these, reaching American households by the thousands, were seed and nursery catalogs with beautiful pictures of middle-class homes surrounded by sprawling lawns, exotic plants, and the latest garden accessoriesandmdash;in other words, the quintessential English-style garden.
Americaandrsquo;s Romance with the English Garden is the story of tastemakers and homemakers, of savvy businessmen and a growing American middle class eager to buy their products. Itandrsquo;s also the story of the beginnings of the modern garden industry, which seduced the masses with its images and fixed the English garden in the mind of the American consumer. Seed and nursery catalogs delivered aspirational images to front doorsteps from California to Maine, and the English garden became the look of America.
Review
andldquo;With colorful reproductions of original catalog artwork, this engaging book conveys a wonderful insight into howandthinsp;andhellip;andthinsp;nursery companies had a profound and lasting influence on American garden design. There may be other books explaining Americaandrsquo;s enchantment with the English garden style, but none, Iandrsquo;m sure, match the scope or contents of this one.andrdquo;
andmdash; Betty Earl. author of Fairy Gardens and In Search of Great Plants
Review
andldquo;I loved this meticulously researched guide through the history of American gardening. Itandrsquo;s fascinating to discover how much has changed in our gardens over the last 200 years, and how much has not.andrdquo;
andmdash; Susan Harris. author of the award-winning blog Garden Rant
Review
“Thomas Mickey is both a historian of public relations and a passionate Master Gardener, and his engaging book is full of colorful personalities—both plants and humans.”
Ariel Swartley — Master Gardener, photographer, and author of In Xanadu: A Little Book of Poppies
Review
andldquo;A penetrating look at the standardized English gardenandrsquo;s grip on the American imagination.andrdquo;andmdash;Ted Steinberg, author of American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn
Review
andldquo;Mickey has thoughtfully woven together an American landscape design history with a critical examination of how commercial interests and mass media shape our preferences, even in our humble backyards.andrdquo;
andmdash;Publishers Weekly
Review
andldquo;Mickey convincingly demonstrates how catalog companies used advances in color printing, rural postal service, and railroad networks to reach a mass audience, uniformly promote the English ideal, and create demand for their own products. Thoroughly researched and footnoted, the book includes examples from powerful and enduring catalogs such as Burpeeand#39;s but also from lesser-known and regional seed companies, including some from the burgeoning West.andrdquo;
andmdash;Library Journal
and#160;
Review
andldquo;[Among] the yearand#39;s best gardening books.andrdquo;
andmdash;The Spectator
Review
andldquo;This is an illuminating book packed with very readable results of dedicated and thoughtful research. It helps give a greater understanding of how and why English garden style has been admired in North America for such a long time.andrdquo; andmdash; Gardens Illustrated
About the Author
Thomas J. Mickey is Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Boston University, the University of Iowa, and the Landscape Institute at the Boston Architectural College, and has been a garden columnist for the Brockton Enterprise, Quincy Patriot Ledger, and Portsmouth, New Hampshireandrsquo;s Seacoast Media. His other books include Best Garden Plants for New England (with Alison Beck, 2006), Deconstructing Public Relations (2003), and Sociodrama: An Interpretive Theory for the Practice of Public Relations (1995).