{"product_id":"floras-empire-british-gardens-in-india-hardback-9780812243260","title":"Flora's Empire; British Gardens in India (Hardback) 9780812243260","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eFlora's Empire\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eBritish Gardens in India\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eEugenia W. Herbert (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812243260\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 21 September 2011\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e420 pages, 30 color, 60 b\/w illus.\u003cbr\u003e25.4 x 17.8 x 2.8 cm, 0.906 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"An excellent history of British gardens in India. . . . [Herbert] writes with gentle wit, elegance and love of her subject which are rare in books on garden history.\" (\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e) \"I found myself entertained on every page. Herbert's achievement is that under the guise of a study of Britannia's role as gardener she has written a thoroughly scholarly-indeed, groundbreaking, in every sense of the word-history of the British entanglement in India. She has flung her net far and wide, and drawn in a wealth of unfamiliar sources, both exotic and homely, to build up a rich tapestry of the Indian landscape. . . . full of insights and wonderfully readable, \u003ci\u003eFlora's Empire\u003c\/i\u003e is as much a treat for the general reader as it is for those who relish 'the glory of the garden.'\" (Charles Allen, editor of \u003ci\u003ePlain Tales from the Raj\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike their penchant for clubs, cricket, and hunting, the planting of English gardens by the British in India reflected an understandable need on the part of expatriates to replicate home as much as possible in an alien environment. In \u003ci\u003eFlora's Empire\u003c\/i\u003e, Eugenia W. Herbert argues that more than simple nostalgia or homesickness lay at the root of this \"garden imperialism,\" however. Drawing on a wealth of period illustrations and personal accounts, many of them little known, she traces the significance of gardens in the long history of British relations with the subcontinent. To British eyes, she demonstrates, India was an untamed land that needed the visible stamp of civilization that gardens in their many guises could convey.\u003cbr\u003e Colonial gardens changed over time, from the \"garden houses\" of eighteenth-century nabobs modeled on English country estates to the herbaceous borders, gravel walks, and well-trimmed lawns of Victorian civil servants. As the British extended their rule, they found that hill stations like Simla offered an ideal retreat from the unbearable heat of the plains and a place to coax English flowers into bloom. Furthermore, India was part of the global network of botanical exploration and collecting that gathered up the world's plants for transport to great imperial centers such as Kew. And it is through colonial gardens that one may track the evolution of imperial ideas of governance. Every Government House and Residency was carefully landscaped to reflect current ideals of an ordered society. At Independence in 1947 the British left behind a lasting legacy in their gardens, one still reflected in the design of parks and information technology campuses and in the horticultural practices of home gardeners who continue to send away to England for seeds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreface\u003cbr\u003e Introduction: Cowslips and Lotuses\u003cbr\u003e PART I. GARDENERS ABROAD\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. From Garden House to Bungalow, Nabobs to Heaven-Born\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Calcutta and the Gardens of Barrackpore\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Over the Hills and Far Away: The Hill Stations of India\u003cbr\u003e PART II. GARDENS OF EMPIRE\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Eastward in Eden: Botanical Imperialism and Imperialists\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. Gardens of Memory\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6. The Taj and the Raj: Restoring the Taj Mahal\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 7. Imperial Delhi: City of Gardens\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 8. Imperial New Delhi: The Garden City\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 9. The Legacy\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion: Garden Imperialism\u003cbr\u003e Common Trees, Shrubs, and Plants in India South of the Himalayas\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52716415713560,"sku":"9780812243260","price":48.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/floras-empire-british-gardens-in-india-hardback-9780812243260","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}