Why have the peoples of the world made pleasure gardens, and why have they made them in such different styles? All pleasure gardens derive their design inspiration from one of the world's six great gardening traditions - the Italian, the Islamic, the Chinese, the Japanese, the English flower garden, and the English park - and it is these that are the subject of this book. There are, of course, other countries where there is an individual style of gardening, but in all cases the roots of that style can be traced back to one of the great traditions. Rory Stuart has travelled from Buenos Aires to Vancouver, from Seattle to Cape Cod; from Ireland to India; to China, Japan and Australia, trying to understand the differences in garden styles and to account for them, approaching pleasure gardens as works of art, and placing them in their historical and cultural context.