Between Fences

Looked over but often overlooked, fences have played an essential role in the American building tradition since colonial times. Thousands of types of fences have been created, and millions of miles constructed across the American landscape. Skirting private and public spaces, they define the nation's borders and boundaries, while playing an integral part in its visual environment.

Lavishly illustrated, Between Fences assembles a distinguished group of architects, theorists, and historians who address this fundamental yet neglected aspect of our built environment. Together, they examine how fences reflect the way Americans think about their land and how they relate to those who share it with them.

Included are provocative essays by Philip Dole on the American home and the picket fence, Diana Balmori on landscape and the hedge, Gary Kulik on the popular "worm" fence, J.B. Jackson on barbed wire fences, Anne M. Lange on Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall," and Anne Stillman on fences and the settlement of New England.

Between Fences is edited and includes a photo essay by Gregory K. Dreicer, a historian and curator at the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.