Drew Birdseye

In June of 1950, the North Korean Army initiated a massive attack on its neighbor to the south, beginning a see-saw war that would engulf the entire Korean Peninsula. For the next three years, the United Nations and the Communists would wage a bloody and brutal war. Though the Korean conflict is often referred to as the "Forgotten War", those who fought and sacrificed for freedom will never forget.

Humans have long turned to gardens-both real and imaginary-for sanctuary from the frenzy and tumult that surrounds them. Those gardens may be as far away from everyday reality as Gilgamesh's garden of the gods or as near as our own backyard, but in their very conception and the marks they bear of human care and cultivation, gardens stand as restorative, nourishing, necessary havens. With Gardens, Robert Pogue Harrison graces readers with a thoughtful,...