Victoria Johnson will be discussing her latest book, American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Nonfiction. The book uncovers the untold story of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr’s personal physician, whose dream to build America’s first botanical garden inspired the young Republic. Of the book, The New York TimesBook Review says, “Did Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton leave you with an appetite for more? American Eden will not disappoint…. In her ambitious and entertaining book Johnson connects past to present. David Hosack’s garden may have been short-lived, but in our parks, gardens, medical practices and pharmacology, his efforts continue to bear fruit.”

Johnson is an associate professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College of The City University of New York. She has been a Cullman Fellow at the NYPL The New York Public Library and a Mellon Visiting Scholar at the The New York Botanical Garden.