Andrea Wulf Books

In the eighteenth century, America’s settlers inherited a horticultural tradition from Britain that revered order, botanical curiosity, and the cultivation of exotic plants. The colonies were grounds for experimentation—a place where imported species met new soils and climates. Wealthy landowners tr...

From Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation

When I walk through Mount Vernon today, I see not only the stately mansion but the expansive fields and orderly gardens that George Washington considered his life’s true work. After leading armies, he often confessed that he yearned only to return to his farm. Here, he designed Mount Vernon as a mod...

From Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation

Humboldt’s story begins in Prussia, in a society disciplined and hierarchical, where curiosity was tolerated only within the bounds of convention. Born in 1769 into a family of noble standing, he was expected to serve the state. Yet even as a boy, he felt an inner rebellion against confinement. His ...

From The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

In 1799, after years of frustrated ambitions under political tension and his mother’s death—which finally freed him from financial restraint—Humboldt sailed from Spain with the French botanist Aimé Bonpland. They intended, at first, only a brief exploration of Spanish America; instead, they spent fi...

From The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World