FOUNDING GARDENERS The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation

Antonia Bath’s crisp and energetic reading of Andrea Wulf’s splendid history of the gardens of the Founding Fathers will enthrall even those who aren’t gardening buffs. Wulf’s approach demonstrates how a highly focused theme can illuminate a much broader landscape and how a common perspective shared by Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison shaped their idea of the new nation they were creating. Bath keeps pace with a text that is heavily factual yet elegant in its phrasing, precise but in no way pretty or pedantic. Her British inflections may seem misplaced for a text so frankly critical of British trade policy toward the struggling young republic. But Wulf is British by way of Germany, and like the figures she writes about, she speaks as a citizen of the world. For gardeners, especially, this is an excellent production. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2011]