We are thrilled to share that Rosetta S. Elkin, author of Landscapes of Retreat (K. Verlag, 2022), has been awarded the prestigious J.B. Jackson Book Prize by the Center for Cultural Landscapes at the University of Virginia. In recognition of this achievement, Elkin will participate in a public discussion about her book with Professor Elizabeth K. Meyer at the University of Virginia on March 20, 2025 at 5pm.
20 March 2025
Landscapes of Retreat
Rosetta S. Elkin
J.B. Jackson Book Prize Lecture
School of Architecture
University of Virginia
Campbell 158
Charlottesville, USA
Elkin’s book, which critically examines the concept of retreat as an approach to landscape adaptation, was unanimously selected as the sole prize winner among this year’s recognized publications. The jury praised Landscapes of Retreat for its innovative research methodology, compelling writing, and deep engagement with the material and social processes that shape landscapes over time.
The John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to landscape studies, celebrating books that break new ground in method and interpretation. The full announcement from the Center for Cultural Landscapes from October 10, 2024 is included below:
The Center for Cultural Landscapes Announces 2024 J.B. Jackson Book Prize Winner
The Center for Cultural Landscapes (CCL) at the UVA School of Architecture is pleased to announce that Associate Professor Rosetta Elkin’s 2022 book, Landscapes of Retreat (K. Verlag) is the 2024 winner of the Landscape Studies Initiative’s J.B. Jackson Book Award.
The John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize is awarded to the author of a book published within the past three years on a subject pertaining to landscape studies. There are no restrictions with regard to period, topic, or author’s nationality. Only books based on original research and those that break new ground in method or interpretation are considered. The purpose of this prize, awarded annually since 2011, is to reward contributors to the intellectual vitality of garden history and landscape studies. Elkin will receive a US$2000 cash prize and participate in a public discussion about her book with Professor Elizabeth K. Meyer at the University of Virginia in the Spring 2025 semester.
This year, the award jury chose one prize winner for the J.B. Jackson Book Prize, and three finalists to cover today’s breadth of landscape studies publishing. These recognitions celebrate recent (2021–23) scholarly publications of landscape historians, historical geographers, urban historians, and art historians involved in landscape studies and the environmental humanities.
The three finalist titles are Steven Conn’s The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is-and Isn’t (The University of Chicago Press), Martin Hogue’s Making Camp: A Visual History of Camping’s Most Essential Items and Activities (Princeton Architectural Press), and Sara Safransky’s The City after Property: Abandonment and Repair in Postindustrial Detroit (Duke University Press).
”Collectively, we sought books with landscape as a central topic and an innovative research method clearly explained. We were drawn to books that ’taught us a lot’ about the author’s process of discovery and were beautifully written as well as produced. Finally, we were inspired by books that examined the material and social processes through which landscapes came into being, evolved, and changed.”
— 2024 J.B. Jackson Book Prize Jury
This year’s jury included continuing members, Professor Emeritus Kenneth Helphand (University of Oregon) and Professor Elizabeth K. Meyer (University of Virginia) with a newly added member, Associate Professor Sarah Lopez (University of Pennsylvania). This was Helphand’s final year as a juror. He won the inaugural J.B. Jackson prize for Defiant Gardens, in 2007 and has volunteered his time as a juror since 2008. The Center for Cultural Landscapes expresses gratitude to Helphand for his exceptional leadership, participation, and discerning expertise over the past sixteen years, and especially for his counsel during the first three years of hosting by the University of Virginia’s Center for Cultural Landscapes. CCL continues to be grateful to the generosity of Elizabeth Barlow Rogers for transferring her Foundation for Landscapes Studies’ annual J.B. Jackson Book Prize and David Coffin Publication Grant to the UVA Center for Cultural Landscapes three years ago.
To get your copy of the second edition of Rosetta S. Elkin, Landscapes of Retreat, click here.