Winner of the Jacques Barzun Prize in Cultural History

Combining rigorous research with lyrical writing, Elderflora chronicles the complex roles ancient trees have played in the modern world and illuminates how we might need old trees now more than ever.

Humans have always revered long-lived trees. But as historian Jared Farmer reveals in Elderflora, our respect took a modern turn in the eighteenth century when naturalists embarked on a quest to locate and precisely date the oldest living things on earth. The new science of tree time prompted travellers to visit ancient specimens and conservationists to protect sacred groves. Exploitation accompanied sanctification, as old-growth forests succumbed to imperial expansion and the industrial revolution.

Taking us from Lebanon to New Zealand to California, Farmer surveys the complex history of the world's oldest trees, including voices of Indigenous peoples, religious figures, and contemporary scientists who study elderflora in crisis. In a changing climate, a long future is still possible, Farmer shows, but only if we give care to young things that might grow old.

'A magisterial study of arboreal longevity . . . like the outstretched limbs of a luxuriant elm, Farmer's narrative extends over a broad range of social and scientific issues.' - Natural History

Historian Jared Farmer tells the globe-spanning story of humanity's deep fascination with the oldest living trees, the lessons in survival they offer us, and how to alter our behaviour so that the young trees of today can become ancient themselves.

About the Author
Jared Farmer is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. A former Andrew Carnegie Fellow, he is the author of several books, including Elderflora and On Zion's Mount, which won the Francis Parkman Prize of the Society of American Historians. He lives in Philadelphia.

Reviews
Jared Farmer brings both classic and state-of-the-art botany alive . . . he shows singular insight into how we do what we do - and perhaps more importantly - why we spend our lives studying trees. -- Hope Jahren, author of Lab Girl
While it is true that the trees have no tongues, that doesn't mean they don't speak to us . . . Read Jared Farmer's lucid and fascinating book to discover the . . . mysteries told by elderflora. -- Michael Mann, author of The New Climate War
Sacred trees . . . are at the root of historian Jared Farmer's magisterial study of arboreal longevity, but like the outstretched limbs of a luxuriant elm, his narrative extends over a broad range of social and scientific issues. -- Laurence A. Marschall * Natural History *
The book succeeds as a cultural history of the conservation ideal that led society to forest preservation. -- David W. Stahle * Science *
[An] expansive global history of grand and venerable trees. -- Josie Glausiusz * Nature *
A sweeping, exceptional tribute to the oldest living organisms on Earth. -- Rebecca Coffey * Forbes *
Short of actually having the honor of spending time in the presence of elderflora, I think Elderflora is the next best thing to provoke a sense of wonder. -- Dominic Boyer * The Berlin Journal *



Book Information
ISBN 9781035009046
Author Jared Farmer
Format Hardback
Page Count 448
Imprint Picador
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 676g
Dimensions(mm) 243mm * 163mm * 43mm