Books by Thomas Jefferson
Andrew Burstein discusses Jefferson’s wider political career and whether it is fair to judge his attitude to slavery by contemporary standards with his choice of the best books about Thomas Jefferson.
“Monticello is a garden that celebrates the American landscape, which becomes incredibly important after the War of Independence when the Americans, who don’t have the poetry and castles of the Old World, are desperately trying to be able to demonstrate that things are better in the New World. And landscape becomes a way of doing that, because the towering trees and vastness of the continent are genuinely more spectacular. So what Jefferson does is put his garden on a mountain top which overlooks 60 miles of Virginia but he doesn’t just create a sublime garden but also incorporates, right at the garden’s centre, a vegetable garden that’s 1,000 feet long and has the best view in the whole garden. So he combines the beauty and the utilitarian, which I think really marks the difference between the English and American garden.” Read more...
The best books on Horticulture
Andrea Wulf, Historian
Interviews where books by Thomas Jefferson were recommended
The best books on Horticulture, recommended by Andrea Wulf
The respected horticulturalist says if you plant an oak tree you know you’re never going to see it grow into maturity, but in planting it you are asserting your belief in the future and in future generations.
