Jens Jensen was a landscape architect who implemented his aesthetic wherever he could, from the grounds of Henry Ford’s estate to the public parks of Chicago. He probably had more sympathy with the latter project. As shown in this collection of his essays, he believed our engagement with the natural environment was a determining factor in human development. Beauty should not be restricted to the privileged but ought to be the commonwealth of everyone. Although less remembered than Aldo Leopold or John Muir, Jensen was one of many great environmentalists to emerge from the upper Midwest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Late in life he moved to Door County and had ties with Wisconsin throughout his vocation as a conservationist.
