Chapter One

Magic, Myth, and Nature: Landscapes of Prehistoric, Early Ancient, and Contemporary Peoples

I. Caves and Circles: Sustaining Life and Discerning Cosmic Order
II. Architectural Mountains and the Earth’s First Cities: Landscape as Urban Power in
Early Ancient Civilizations
III. Ritual and Landscape in Prehistoric Greece: Earth Goddess and the Mighty Lords
IV. Cosmology in the Landscapes of the Americas: Spirits of Earth and Sky

Chapter Two

Nature, Art, and Reason: Landscape Design in the Classical World

I. Gods and Humans: The New Contract with Nature
II. Polis and Acropolis: City and Temple in the Greek Landscape
III. Empire: Hellenism and Roman Urbanism
IV. Garden and Villa: The Art of Landscape in Ancient Rome

Chapter Three

Visions of Paradise: Landscape Design as Symbol and Metaphor

I. Paradise as a Literary Topos: Gardens of God and Gardens of Love
II. Paradise on Earth: The Islamic Garden
III. Paradise Contained: Walled Cities and Walled Gardens of the European Middle Ages

Chapter Four

Classicism Reborn: Landscape Ideals of the Renaissance in Italy and France

I. Petrarch, Alberti, and Colonna: Humanism and the Landscape
II. Bramante and the Rediscovery of Axial Planning: Gardens of Sixteenth-Century Italy
III. Axial Planning on an Urban Scale: The Development of Renaissance Rome
IV. Currents of Fashion: The Transformation of the Italian Garden in France
V. The Evolution of French Urbanization and Garden Style: Paris in the Time of Henry IV

Chapter Five

Power and Glory: The Genius of Le Nôtre and the Grandeur of the Baroque

I. The Making of Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles: André Le Nôtre
II. The Garden as Theater: Italian Baroque and Rococo Gardens

Chapter Six

Expanding Horizons: Court and City in the European Grand Manner

I. French and Italian Exports: The Application of Classical and Baroque Design Principles to Gardens in the Netherlands, England, Germany, and Beyond
II. The Heroic City: Expressions of Classical and Baroque Urbanism
III. Nature’s Paradise: America in the Colonial and Federal Periods

Chapter Seven

Sense and Sensibility: Landscapes of the Age of Reason, Romanticism, and Revolution

I. The Genius of the Place: Forging a New Landscape Style Through Literature, Art, and Theory
II. Leaping the Fence: The Transformation of the English Landscape into a Pastoral Idyll with Political Meaning
III. Remaking England: Capability Brown, Professional Improver
IV. Nature’s Canvas: English Philosophers and Practitioners of the Picturesque
V. Landscapes of Moral Virtue and Exotic Fantasy: The French Picturesque
VI. Designing Nature’s Garden: The Landscapes of Thomas Jefferson
VII. The Landscape of Mind and Soul: Goethe and Wordsworth

Chapter Eight

Nature as Muse: The Gardens of China and Japan

I. Mountains, Lakes, and Islands: Intimations of Immortality in the Chinese Garden
II. Tea, Moss, and Stones: Temple and Palace Gardens of Japan

Chapter Nine

Expanding Cities and New Social Institutions: The Democratization of Landscape Design

I. Botanical Science, the Gardenesque Style, and People’s Parks: Landscape Design in Victorian England
II. Redefining Rural America: The Influence of Andrew Jackson Downing
III. Honoring History and Repose for the Dead: Commemorative Landscapes and Rural Cemeteries
IV. The New Metropolis: Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as Park Builders and City Planners

Chapter Ten

Industrial Age Civilization: Birth of the Modern City, Beaux-Arts America, and National Parks

I. Haussmann’s Paris: Birth of the Modern City
II. The City Beautiful: Monumental Urbanism in Beaux-Arts America

III. America the Beautiful: The National Park System

Chapter Eleven

Landscape as Aesthetic Experience: The Arts and Crafts Movement and the Revival of the Formal Garden

I. Modernity Challenged: Ruskin’s Influence, the Past Revalued, and Italy’s Long Shadow
II. The Edwardian and Post-Edwardian English Garden: Aristocracy’s Golden Afternoon and Twilight
III. Design Synthesis: The End of the American Country Place Era

Chapter Twelve

Social Utopias: Modernism and Regional Planning

I. Urban Expansion: Town Planning for the Machine Age in Britain and Continental Europe
II. Greenbelt Towns or Suburbs?: Creating the American Metropolis

Chapter Thirteen

A New Landscape Aesthetic: The Modernist Garden

I. Transitional Experimentation: Design Idioms of the Early Twentieth Century
II. Abstract Art and the Functional Landscape: Gardens for Modern Living

Chapter Fourteen

Home, Commerce, and Entertainment: Landscapes of Consumerism

I. A Home for the Family: The Landscape of Suburbia
II. Commerce and Entertainment: Shopping Malls and Theme Parks

Chapter Fifteen

Holding On and Letting Grow: Landscape as Preservation, Conservation, Art, Sport, and Theory

I. Preserving the Past: Place as Heritage, Identity, Tourist Landscape, and New Urbanist Community
II. Conserving Nature: Landscape Design as Environmental Science and Art
III. Earthworks, Golf Courses, Philosophical Models, and Poetic Metaphors: Landscape as Art Form, Sport, Deconstructivism, and Phenomenology

Chapter Sixteen

The Weaving of Place and The Geography of Flows: Landscape as Bodily Experience and Vernacular Expression

I. Body and Space: The Weaving of Place
II. Cultural Geography: The Loom of Landscape