Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Lecture and Author Meet-and-Greet! Victoria Johnson "American Eden" - Temple Ambler


WEDNESDAY JANUARY 30, 2019
6:00pm-8:00pm

Lecture and Author Meet-and-Greet: Victoria Johnson, "American Eden"
Temple Ambler Learning Center Auditorium
580 Meetinghouse Rd
Ambler, PA

This illustrated lecture by author and historian Victoria Johnson features her new book, American Eden, which both the Wall Street Journal and Ron Chernow (Alexander Hamilton) have called “captivating.” When Dr. David Hosack tilled the nation’s first public botanical garden in the Manhattan soil more than 200 years ago, he didn’t just dramatically alter the New York landscape; he left a monumental legacy of advocacy for public health and wide-ranging support for the sciences.... Today, his former garden is the site of Rockefeller Center. Join Victoria Johnson as she eloquently chronicles Hosack’s tireless career to reveal the breadth of his impact. The result is a lush portrait of the man who gave voice to a new, deeply American understanding of the powers and perils of nature. American Eden has been named a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award in nonfiction. American Eden will be available for purchase onsite. This lecture is possible because of the gracious gift given by Marie Louise and Eugene Jackson.

Victoria Johnson was born in 1969 in Ithaca, New York. She earned her undergraduate degree in philosophy at Yale and her doctorate in sociology at Columbia. She has been a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library and a Mellon Visiting Scholar at the New York Botanical Garden. She teaches on the history of philanthropy, the arts, the natural environment, and New York City at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Her latest book, AMERICAN EDEN, is a biography of the doctor at the Hamilton-Burr duel, David Hosack, a pioneering physician and botanist. Hosack's botanical garden, the first in the new Republic, is now buried under Rockefeller Center.

Fee: $10 PHS Members, Temple Arboretum Members, Women in Horticulture Members
$20 Non-members