From the notion of Eden to modern landscape theories, many writers have tried to describe or define nature and the ideal garden in their relationship to culture, politics, architecture, and the city. Featuring Virgil, Boccaccio, Rousseau, François Fénelon, Alexander von Humboldt, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jean-Claude-Nicolas Forestier, Gertrude Jekyll, Roberto Burle-Marx, Lewis Mumford, Guy Debord, Gilles Clément, and many more famous names, some translated for the first time, this wise, rich anthology of over 100 pieces gives us a new perspective on landscape and the art of gardening.