Behind the Privet Hedge: Richard Sudell, Suburbia and the Beautification of Britain

(Hardback)

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Description

It is said that Britain is a nation of gardeners; the suburban garden, with its roses and privet hedges, is widely admired and copied across the world. But it is little understood how millions across the nation developed an obsession with their colourful plots of land. Behind the Privet Hedge explores the history of this development and how, despite their stereotype as symbols of dull, middle-class conformity, these new open spaces were seen as a tool to help bring about social change in the early twentieth century. The book restores to the story a remarkable but long-forgotten figure, Richard Sudell, who spent a lifetime 'evangelising' that the garden be in the vanguard of progress towards a new egalitarian society.

Author Bio

Michael Gilson is an award-winning editor and journalist as well as an associate fellow in the School of Media, Arts, and Humanities at the University of Sussex.