Urban Forests is a history of trees popular in American cities, mostly told through the stories of the men and women who introduced and popularized them.

I will say up front that I had a certain assumption about what this book would be about and it's not really the book's fault that it did not live up to that expectation. For amateur botanists, urbanists, environmentalists, and policymakers, Urban Forests will be a revelation of one of the greatest, most productive, and most beautiful of our natural resources. The book examines such questions as the character of American urban forests and the effect that tree-rich landscaping might have on commerce, crime, and human well-being. Jill Jonnes's Urban Forests tells the captivating stories of the founding mothers and fathers of urban forestry, in addition to those arboreal advocates presently using the latest technologies to illuminate the value of trees to public health and to our urban infrastructure.

Despite their ubiquity and familiarity, most of us take trees for granted and know little of their fascinating natural history or remarkable civic virtues. Today, four-fifths of Americans live in or near urban areas, surrounded by millions of trees of hundreds of different species. As nature's largest and longest-lived creations, trees play an extraordinarily important role in our cities they are living landmarks that define space, cool the air, soothe our psyches, and connect us to nature and our past.

Urban Forests by Jill Jonnes