"I find myself completely besotted by a new book titled Gardens. The author... is one of the very best cultural critics at work today. He is a man of deep learning, immense generosity of spirit, passionate curiosity, and manifold rhetorical gifts." - Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune "Mr. Harrison has planted his own garden of beautiful quotations and provocative speculation, and it is an absorbing and stimulating place to spend time." - Jonathan Rosen, Wall Street Journal "This book is about gardens as a metaphor for the human condition.... Harrison draws freely and with brilliance from 5,000 years of Western literature and criticism, including works on philosophy and garden history.... He is a careful as well as an inspiring scholar." - Tom Turner, Times Higher Education "The year's most thought-provoking, original, and weighty garden book is Gardens.... Reading Harrison's book is like strolling down a path through a well-cultivated, richly sown, light-dappled woodland.... Just as in the making of a garden, there's no end to the wonder; the journey is everything." - New York Times Book Review"