Synopses & Reviews
Perhaps America's best environmental idea was not the national park but the garden cemetery, a use of space that quickly gained popularity in the mid-nineteenth century. Such spaces of repose brought key elements of the countryside into rapidly expanding cities, making nature accessible to all and serving to remind visitors of the natural cycles of life. In this unique interdisciplinary blend of historical narrative, cultural criticism, and poignant memoir, Aaron Sachs argues that American cemeteries embody a forgotten landscape tradition that has much to teach us in our current moment of environmental crisis.
Until the trauma of the Civil War, many Americans sought to shape society into what they thought of as an Arcadiaand#8212;not an Eden where fruit simply fell off the tree, but a public garden that depended on an ethic of communal care, and whose sense of beauty and repose related directly to an acknowledgement of mortality and limitation. Sachs explores the notion of Arcadia in the works of nineteenth-century nature writers, novelists, painters, horticulturists, landscape architects, and city planners, and holds up for comparison the twenty-first century'sand#8212;and his ownand#8212;tendency toward denial of both death and environmental limits. His far-reaching insights suggest new possibilities for the environmental movement today and new ways of understanding American history.
Review
and#8220;A book of great ambition that is charting a changing consciousness on the American scene as articulated through classic literature, the built environment, war, art, and invention. . . . Powerful and evocative.and#8221;and#8212;Jonathan Holloway, Yale University
Review
and#160;andldquo;If you crossed Leo Marx's The Machine in the Garden with Rebecca Solnit's Savage Dreams you would have a book as original and insightful as Arcadian America. This lyrical, eye-opening work will reshape how readers think about American culture and their place within it.andrdquo;andmdash;Louis P. Masur, author of Lincoln's Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union
Review
and#160;andldquo;In Arcadian America, Sachs weaves personal memoir throughout an extraordinary review of 19th-century urban planners, horticulturalists and writers who also sought the Arcadian experience. Rich in scholarship, yet very readable, it is stylistically reminiscent of Thoreauandrsquo;s, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, as both draw on personal experience and historic materials.andrdquo;andmdash;Thomas Potter, Immediate Past-President, Thoreau Society
Review
and#160;andquot;In Arcadian America, Aaron Sachs provides us with a genuineand#160;giftandmdash;indeed, with one of the most profound moral reflections everand#160;penned by a historian. At times a loving paean to an unknown brotherand#160;and an aging father, at times a pained reflection on the American wayand#160;of death, this immensely moving work inspires us to reimagine theand#160;very boundaries of scholarly history. Deeply learned, Sachsand#160;ultimately transcends the intellectual to teach us how us how we mightand#160;rediscover true hope in lifeandmdash;by grounding ourselves in our countryandrsquo;sand#160;most meaningful traditions of death.andquot;andmdash;Robert D. Johnston, author of The Radical Middle Class
Review
and#160;andquot;A fascinating exploration of a neglected environmental tradition,
Arcadian America is a timely and important book.andquot;andmdash;Jackson Lears,and#160;author of
Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America, 1877-1920Review
and#8220;A deep-running meditation on life, death, and our place in and responsibility to our world. . . . An artful blend of reflection and call to action that steers around environmental fatalism toward and#8216;the exhilaration and melancholy that mark every life.and#8217;and#8221;and#8212;Kirkus Reviewsandnbsp;
Review
"Ambitious. . . Sachsand#8217;s ruminative, associative style makes for interesting takes on dozens of writers, artists, and landscape architects."and#8212;Nicholas Lemann,
Theandnbsp;New Yorkerandnbsp;Review
and#8220;Sachs . . .andnbsp;pays attention to his peripheral vision to see beyond the obvious and catch the unexpected . . . . He achieves a rich and compelling emotional context by weaving the Arcadiansand#8217; stories together with his own . . . . Sachsand#8217;s accessible and engaging style . . . . retains scholarly credibility while drawing people into the discussion through emotional traction. More scholarly work should be written this way.and#8221;and#8212;Science
Review
and#8220;An impressive and ambitious experiment . . . . Sachsand#8217;s . . . intensely personal anecdotes testify directly to the Arcadian traditionand#8217;s value as a remedy for contemporary American ecosocial disorders . . . . An idiosyncratic and absorbing book that deserves to be read both for its innovative historiographical methods and its encyclopedic documentation of an original and compelling thesis.and#8221;and#8212;New England Quarterly
Review
and#8220;Any serious scholar of nineteenth-century American ideas will want to consider how Sachs has reconfigured and repositioned key elements in Americaand#8217;s narrative.and#8221;and#8212;Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Review
“From Yosemite to Yellowstone, the US national parks remain a historical touchstone for national environmentalism — but not the only one, argues Aaron Sachs. In a rich mix of history, cultural critique and memoir, Sachs reveals the cemetery as a half-forgotten nineteenth-century landscape tradition. These micro-Arcadias inspired close observation of nature in increasingly urbanized spaces, as well as contemplation of mortality and the sublime.”—Nature Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Review
and#8220;Sachsand#8217;s experience with death is at the center of his vision of repose. It is what makes his book not only honest, but profound, important.and#8221;and#8212;The Common Vision
Review
Won an Honorable Mention for the 2013 New England Book Festival given by the JM Northern Media Family of Festivals, in the General Non-Fiction Category.
Synopsis
How a forgotten environmental tradition of the pre-Civil War era may prove powerfully useful to us now
About the Author
Aaron Sachs is associate professor of history and American studies, Cornell University. He is author of The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism. He lives in Ithaca, NY.