1 comments about Imperial Cities: Landscape, Display and Identity (Studies in Imperialism).

1. Imperial cities offer an unexpected view of the late 19th, early 20th century imperial cities. The book is divided in 3 parts, Imperial Landscapes, Imperial Display and Imperial Identities and gives us several examples in each category.

   In Imperial landscapes we see London, Rome, Paris, Vienna. London is a world trade hub with a hodgepodge urbanism upgrading its landscape to match its global position after cities like Paris, Brussels and Vienna created their own landscapes to match their global status. Rome, the recent capital of Italy wants to become a national symbol and erase centuries of papal power. Paris is consciously targeting rich travellers, intellectuals, artists to become the world capital of pleasure and attract who's who in the World by her beauty. Vienna is trying to combine tradition of her centuries old empire, cultures of her multinational empire and prove the world she is also capital of an industrial power but does not quiet succeed. And a last chapter dedicated to the Bank of England remodelling between 1919-1939 shows the evolution from Imperial to Late Imperial England and its impact on the building concept.

   In Imperial Display we see the the Pageant of London in 1911, the colonial exposition of Marseilles, `capital of the French colonies' in 1920, the Iberoamerican Fair of Sevilla in 1929, the colonial displays at Sydenham Crystal Park and the tropical plants in English gardens to analyse the imperial discourse and how Imperial cities see their world.

   In Imperial Identities, authors show us Glasgow, imperial municipality and the importance of the Empire for the city, the way empires do impact on man clothing and identities between 1860-1914 and reactions to Empire, the Pan-African Conference of London in 1900. And for a final conclusion, how this imperial age still remains visible/invisible in our societies and prepared us to the multinational and global culture of today.

   The book is really worth reading because it explains the whole thinking process beyond those landscapes, tourists guides, displays and attitudes which modelled the cities and the people living in them. Once read you will understand London, Rome, Paris, Vienna, Brussels, Marseilles, Glasgow, Sevilla and other imperial cities and never look at them the same way because of the decoded message it suddenly offers. An excellent complement to `Ornementalism' from David Cannadine.

1 comments about Benton MacKaye: Conservationist, Planner, and Creator of the Appalachian Trail (Creating the North American Landscape).

1. Perhaps you're familiar with the name Benton MacKaye (1879-1975); at the very least, you've heard of the Appalachian Trail. You might see the title of this book and say, "Oh, OK, he was the guy who thought up the idea for a footpath from Maine to Georgia. Big deal. I've never stepped on it, so why should I care about him?" Well, without Benton MacKaye, we probably wouldn't have the Trail. We might not have a Wilderness Society, the Wilderness Act of 1964, the National Trail Systems Act of 1968, or the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. We might not have Shenandoah National Park in Virginia or the Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina border. We could instead have just interstate highways crowning the entire length of the eastern mountain range. We could conceivably have uninterrupted suburbia from the Atlantic coastline to the Midwest, with little consideration given to the mountains or any natural area in between. Benton MacKaye might very well be one of the most influential 20th-century American environmentalists you've never heard of.

   A New Englander with a Harvard graduate degree in forestry, MacKaye spent most of his professional life taking a variety of short-term government or association jobs that dealt with conservation issues. Eventually he carved a niche for himself as an outspoken regional planner. He was adept at writing articles and proposing legislation that included catchy words or concepts: geotechnics, new exploration, townless highways, highwayless towns, watershed democracies, wildland belts, and habitability. For MacKaye was at heart a boy who loved to wander through the natural landscape of central Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. In the early 1900s, he was already worried about increasing numbers of motorists invading those wild spaces, particularly into the region's mountainous areas. He spent the majority of his life fighting to keep those places "sound-proof as well as sight-proof" from the intrusion of contemporary civilization. In some ways, he was the Thoreau of his day.

   The formal publication of "The Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning" (included here as an appendix) came to fruition in 1921, and it laid the foundation for the rest of his articles and essays. We who consider ourselves environmentalists today find his words still striking an inner chord. MacKaye wrote in the 1950s: "Verily, the first and simplest rule on earth: Give back to the earth that which we take from her. Return the good we have borrowed; in short, pay our ecological bills. Pay them in dirt, not dollars. It's the only currency the good earth accepts. Too long have we lived on dollar ecology." (p. 336) Yes, Mr. MacKaye, yes. Let's shout that one from the mountaintops, if we can still find them.

   Anderson is admirably neutral in presenting the facts and interpreting MacKaye's connections with and influences on more "famous" individuals like Lewis Mumford, Aldo Leopold, Bob Marshall, and Olaus Murie. That must have been a tough job indeed, since the author obviously spent a huge amount of time with his subject. The resulting details are valuable to have compiled into one volume but might limit readership to scholars of the AT or of the environmental movement. With every turn of a page, though, his chronicle of MacKaye's endeavors brings home a basic truth that still holds today: that every environmental debate is a political one. We can be either encouraged or chagrined by that knowledge.

No comments about Place and Memory in the Singing Crane Garden (Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture).

No comments about An Artist in the Garden: A Guide to Creative and Natural Gardening.

1 comments about Colorado's Great Gardens: Plains, Mountains & Plateaus.

1. This book features photos of gorgeous Colorado gardens and interesting information about how each gardener planned, prepared, planted, etc. their garden. It has given me many ideas for my own flower garden, and it would make an ideal gift for any Colorado gardener -- or for anyone who is interested in how our gardening is different from other parts of the country.

   From the front cover: "[The book] features seventy-two gardens singled out for their beauty and adherence to plants indicative of their area. ...Proctor's striking images depict the serenity and charm inherent in each garden...Geargia Garnsey, a Denver-based writer, provides lively profiles of each garden and the gardener who tends it."

No comments about Sissinghurst: Portrait of a Garden.

No comments about A Modern Garden: The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at The Museum of Modern Art.

1 comments about Stone, Wood, Glass and Steel.

1. a very original book with loads of very nice pictures. I have never seen another book about the same topic and the design ideas here are great. For those who like art and materials in their gardens

2 comments about Designing Paradise: The Allure of the Hawaiian Resort.

1. The best survey of Hawaiiana resort architecture and design. Loaded with pictures and well written text.



2. DESIGNING PARADISE: THE ALLURE OF THE HAWAIIAN RESORT defines the architectural style unique to the Hawaiian resort, adding a history of Hawaiian island tourism in the process. Chapters use drawings, archival images and modern color photos to chart emerging architecture in Hawaii, adding strong cultural notes on the emergence of tourist interests. An excellent guide not only for students of architecture, but for any interested in Hawaiian culture and history.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

No comments about Greenscapes: Olmsted's Pacific Northwest.