Customer Reviews

Landscape Design: A Cultural and Architectural History

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The people who own this book bought it because they recognized in the title the triangulation that makes it unique. Although it has plenty of photos and diagrams, it is not meant as a photo book. Rather, it takes on the very difficult task of attempting to understand Western culture as it is told in three interwoven narrations of human thinking -- and how that thinking plays itself out in our relation with the earth. Ms. Rogers uses just the language I need. Excellent.

I had to purchase this book for my LA class and it's a bug squasher. While the pictures are impressive, and the coverage of the subject in-depth, the author can be long winded. What she covers in a page could have easily been said in a couple of paragraphs. I also don't care for the glossy pages. While they make the pictures look nice, reading the fine text that it's printed can give one a headache.

Very well researched history of landscape design. However, I wouldn't go so far as to describe the photographs as 'breathtaking' as does another reviewer. There are many of them, all interesting, but almost all (apart from a brief intro sequence) only quarter or eighth page size. As a result, there is no image as impressive as the front cover. This is my only quibble, and the reason for 4 not 5 stars: why have a book so big and then not make full use of its size to present such a visually-based subject?

From Nineveh to a mobile home in Pecos, NM, Rogers casts a wide net, exploring the evolution of formal landscaping in parallel to humansÕ urge to put their mark on the earth. A scholar, who administered New YorkÕs Central Park for two decades, she provides a compelling account of the cultural roots that underly the plantings, explaining the ideas inherent in unfamiliar and classic gardens. Every page contains sharp insightsÑfor example, her suggestion that the broken column that the Baron de Monville built as his house at the Desert de Retz outside Paris in the 1780s portended the revolution that would sweep away the civilization he cherished. The abundance of plans and illustrations do ample justice to the text. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

With 630 illustrations, many created just for this book (430 of which are in full color), Elizabeth Barlow Rogers' Landscape Design: A Cultural And Architectural History offers dazzling, panoramic beauty to complement its extensive commentary on landscapes throughout history, ranging from Stonehenge and the Forbidden City of Beijing to Versailles and New York's Central Park. This comprehensive survey, with its intelligent text and breathtaking photographs, is highly recommended to anyone interested in the history of landscaping since the dawn of humanity.