Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer,The Gardens of Democracy :

A New American Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role ofGovernment, Sasquatch Books, Seattle, 2011, p.xii+192

Abstract

The book encapsulates a new conceptual approach to understanding the interconnected economic, political and social situations and systems, and how they work. Their metaphor- society is a garden- provides a vision of citizenship, democracy, and role of the government. It advocates the need to adapt to meet the prerequisites of economic, political and social evolution. The authors have drawn a comparison between gardeners and statists to highlight the complexities and limits of social policy, and urge free marketers and government to see how the system needs some tending. Gardening requires the right setting: fertile soil, good light, water, fertilizers and nurturing what we seed, and so do government, society and governance. In other words, insert proper inputs to get beneficial outputs. The writers eloquently manage to convey their noble message; that is “we harvest what we plant”.