Radical Gardening: Politics, Idealism and Rebellion in the Garden - Softcover

George McKay

3.76

58 ratings by Goodreads

9780711230309: Radical Gardening: Politics, Idealism and Rebellion in the Garden

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0711230307 ISBN 13: 9780711230309

Publisher: Frances Lincoln, 2011

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War is the natural occupation of man ... war-and gardening. Winston Churchill to Siegfried Sassoon, 1918 In the common public perception, contemporary gardening is understood as suburban, as leisure activity, as television makeover opportunity. Its origins are seen as religious or spiritual (Garden of Eden), military (the clipped lawn, the ha-ha and defensive ditches), aristocratic or monarchical (the stately home, the Royal Horticultural Society). Radical Gardening travels an alternative route, through history and across landscape, linking propagation with propaganda. For everyday garden life is not only patio, barbecue, white picket fence, topiary, herbaceous border.... From window box to veggie box, from political plot to flower power, this book uncovers and celebrates moments, movements, gestures, of a people's approach to gardens and gardening. It weaves together garden history with the counterculture, stories of individual plants with discussion of government policy, the social history of campaign groups with the pleasure and dirt of hands in the earth, as well as original interviews alongside media, pop and art references, to offer an informing and inspiring new take on an old subject.

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Review:

From Borneville to seed bomb: a lightness of touch and a sprinkling of plant puns make inspiring cultural gallop through an alternative history of green in the city. --RIBA Journal

A stimulating and enjoyable read. --BBC Gardens Illustrated

A bravura account of the power of flowers ... a truly important book that fills a gap between the overt political action of immediate protest and the slow cultural protest, both ecological and environmental, that might bring about the deep structural change in society envisioned by many small steps that begin with the planting of a tree or the laying out of a park on wasteland. --Times Literary Supplement

If you've been labouring under the delusion that gardening is a staid suburban pastime, this is the book that will change your mind. --Scotsman

About the Author:

George McKay is a leading British author on aspects of alternative culture through music, protest, lifestyle. He is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Salford. His books include Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance since the Sixties, DiY Culture: Party & Protest in Nineties Britain and Glastonbury: A Very English Fair. He is also co-editor of the academic journal Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest (Routledge), as well as a fairly frequent contributor to BBC radio. He has appeared on numerous television programmes, and written for publications such as the Guardian, Independent, and New Statesman. He lives in Lancaster.

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