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A review by nvblue
The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession by Andrea Wulf
5.0
Rating: 5 out of 5
Andrea Wulf is a superb popular historian. I haven't read any of her technical works, but she has consistently impressed me with her popular writing. The Brother Gardeners is expertly written. Wulf flawlessly weaves narrative and analysis with primary sources, which kept me glued to this book. My one gripe is the title of this book, I didn't really catch the impact of 'Brother' gardeners (likewise her biography of Alexander von Humboldt was titledThe Invention of Nature, another misnomer).
This is an exemplary example of what a history should be. Concise, insightful and captivating without neglecting accuracy and detail. By the end of the book, I left with a solid conceptualization some of the major players in the book. Collinson, Bartram, Banks and many others came to life in my mind as persons and not just as names on the page.
Andrea Wulf is a superb popular historian. I haven't read any of her technical works, but she has consistently impressed me with her popular writing. The Brother Gardeners is expertly written. Wulf flawlessly weaves narrative and analysis with primary sources, which kept me glued to this book. My one gripe is the title of this book, I didn't really catch the impact of 'Brother' gardeners (likewise her biography of Alexander von Humboldt was titledThe Invention of Nature, another misnomer).
This is an exemplary example of what a history should be. Concise, insightful and captivating without neglecting accuracy and detail. By the end of the book, I left with a solid conceptualization some of the major players in the book. Collinson, Bartram, Banks and many others came to life in my mind as persons and not just as names on the page.