Marta McDowell: All the President's Gardens

All the Presidents' Gardens: Madison's Cabbages to Kennedy's Roses, How the White House Grounds Have Grown with America is richly illustrated with new and historical photographs and art, and is refreshingly nonpartisan, just in time for election year. The eighteen acres that surround the White House have been an unwitting witness to history--a backdrop for soldiers, suffragettes, protestors, and activists. Kings and queens have dined there; bills and treaties have been signed; and presidents have landed and retreated. The front and back yard for the first family, it is by extension the nation's first garden.