Description: The story of how America's garden clubs became an unexpected and formidable force for social, political, and environmental change--powered by an unforgettable, diverse cast of extraordinary women with big personalities, fabulous hats, and dirt under their fingernails.
During World War I, while the troops were away, garden club women trained a Woman's Land Army to harvest the nation's crops. It was an early effort, but far from their last. Over the next several decades, they shaped what motorists see along millions of miles of American roadways. They demanded leaders address urban blight, restoring value and elevating the reputation of municipally neglected, segregated neighborhoods. They muscled their way onto state and national legislative advisory boards and testified on behalf of environmental legislation that protected thousands of acres of endangered land, from California to Florida. Members included women conservationists like Lady Bird Johnson and Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer, alongside countless cafeteria workers, teachers, naturalists, journalists, and organizers whose names history has forgotten, until now. For over a century, garden club women have worked to make America not just a more beautiful place, but a better one. It's past time these women were recognized for their incredible achievements. Sweeping in its scope, intimate in its telling, and brimming with unforgettable characters, this is the revelatory history of women's garden clubs and their overlooked role in environmental activism, community improvement, and land conservation across America. The spirited, resilient advocacy of these pioneers offers a timely and powerful reminder of the ways grassroots movements can take root and flourish. Garden Club Women is an inspiring and irresistible account of the women who changed America from the ground up.Brief description: Meredith Henne Baker is a 2021 Virginia Humanities Fellow and holds a graduate degree in American History from the College of William and Mary. She is an educator and the author of The Richmond Theater Fire: Early America's First Great Disaster (Louisiana State University Press), which won the 2012 Jules and Frances F. Landry Award and the Phi Alpha Theta Best First Book Award in the field of history. She lives in Virginia.
Review Quotes: "Garden Club Women has more twists and turns than a well-tended trellis - laced together by a series of mini-biographies of visionary womenwho took on the bullies of business and politics of their day. From the courage of Silent Spring author Rachel Carson to "The Women Doers" of Lady Bird Johnson, Meredith Baker skillfully draws profiles in courage from all walks of life - Black and White, rich and poor. These mostly-unsung heroes wielded their own garden clubs to knock down billboards, nourish natural resources and protect America's 'verdant wonderland' from poisonous chemicals. With so much of their visionary work under attack today, this is a timely reminder of the power of strong women seeding grassroots activism, giving new meaning to 'Flower Power!'" --Chip Jones, author of The Organ Thieves