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Book: The Man Who Planted Trees
Author: Jean Giono
Review by: Phil Bolton, founder and publisher emeritus, Global Atlanta
In 2006 Wangari Maathai encouraged members of the Association of Kenyan Professionals in Atlanta (AKPA) to support tree planting initiatives both at home in Georgia and in their native Kenya.
Her career had launched a tree-planting frenzy in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa through the Green Belt Movement, which eventually provided her with a global platform to support environmental initiatives and women’s rights. She received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, the first African woman to be so honored.
During her remarks at the Troutman Sanders law firm, she praised the efforts of Trees Atlanta and praised AKPA’s efforts to plant seedlings in a Brookwood Hills neighborhood park.
While reading Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees (L’Homme Qui Plantait des Arbres) this year, I reflected on Dr. Maathai’s remarkable career and accomplishments. The book recounts the tale of a shepherd who decides to restore the ruined landscape of an isolated and largely abandoned valley in Provence, France, by planting thousands of acorns there over many years.
The narrator meets the shepherd on his first visit in 1913 and returns to the valley after fighting in the devastation of World War I. Upon his return, he is amazed to see saplings throughout the valley and streams running throughout the landscape.
What an accomplishment, I thought to myself, as I slowly turned the pages. Should I be considering a new pastime, traveling the world in pursuit of plantings? I asked myself. Before packing my bags, however, I learned that instead of a biography, the tale is a fable dreamed up by the author, who published the small book in 1953.
I don’t know if Dr. Maathai ever read the book, but she embodied the spirit of The Man Who Planted Trees, which has inspired films, plays, music and Jim Robbins’s thoroughly researched 2015 work of the same title.
The Robbins book, a true story, explores the threat to forests around the world and a Michigan nurseryman’s quest to clone some of the world’s oldest species, like redwoods and sequoias. It’s truly “A story of lost groves, the science of trees and a plan to save the planet.”
I’ve started this one, and as the author suggests, the specter of a world without trees is too horrific to contemplate.
I want to encourage everyone who recognizes the potential devastation to our planet to read these books and to participate in organizations such as Trees Atlanta before it’s too late.
Editor’s notes: Global Atlanta will receive a 10 percent commission on any purchase of this book through the links on this page.
Each year, Global Atlanta asks influential readers and community leaders to review the most impactful book they read during the course of the year. This endeavor has continued annually since 2010.
See last year’s full list of books on BookShop here, and all 2021 reader picks here.
All books were chosen and reviews written independently, with only mild editing from our staff.