This book was published the same year that the military junta took control in Brazil, but per the inside flap, "this book would have been published some years ago [but Burle Marx] was anxious to include the most interesting part of his work, the gardens of Caracas and the Beira Mar of Rio de Janeiro." Billed as the "only [book] devoted to a tropical landscape gardener and his work," The Tropical Gardens of Burle Marx is loaded with photos and other illustrations of Burle Marx's gardens, many focused on the plants themselves, complete with Latin names. The book, free of a table of contents, has an odd structure, with an English introduction and English-German-Italian text throughout the rest of the book, mainly as captions to the images. There is no index so no way to find particular projects. In effect the book is made for browsing: a voyage through the gardens of Burle Marx -- on the cusp of dramatic changes in his home country. ( )