GROUNDBREAKING:
The Unmapped Path of Women in the 20th Century and the Freedom They Claim in Older Age
Thank you to everyone who attended our live conversation with Lynne Elizabeth on June 18, 2026. The conversation has been published as an At Home, On Air podcast episode. Find our podcast by searching for “At Home, On Air” on your preferred platform.
“ Working in her garden was how she [Clare] centered herself during all different phases of her life. She learned so much because she had such an appreciation and awareness of everything that grew.”
Lynne Elizabeth
Our Featured Guest:
Lynne Elizabeth | Founding Director of New Village Press and a close friend of Clare Cooper Marcus
Our Podcast Host:
Susanne Stadler | At Home With Growing Older
Episode Description:
This conversation celebrates the groundbreaking work of women in the 20th century, inspired and guided by the recent publication of Groundbreaking: My Unmapped Path as an Academic, Mother and Gardener — the sweeping autobiography of the late Clare Cooper Marcus.
Clare was a pioneering figure in the nascent field of environmental psychology, whose work transformed how we understand the relationship between people and the spaces they inhabit. Groundbreaking spans nine decades, moving from a wartime childhood in England through a distinguished academic career in the United States. It is a reflection on personal endurance, professional courage, and an unwavering belief in the healing power of nature — all rooted in her life’s deepest passion: her garden. The autobiography was completed only weeks before Clare’s death at age 91 in January of 2026.
With her close friend and publisher, Lynne Elizabeth of New Village Press, New York — an innovator in her own right — we reflect on what it meant to forge an unmapped path as a professional woman in the 20th century, and what Clare’s life and work continue to teach us. Clare’s story is also a reminder that freedom from professional life can become an intensely creative time — and that for women who spent decades breaking new ground, older age may be the most generative chapter of all.
Groundbreaking is available in the Bay Area at Mrs. Dollaway’s on College Avenue in Berkeley.
Book Description:
Groundbreaking: My Unmapped Path as an Academic, Mother, and Gardener
Clare Cooper Marcus’s Groundbreaking is a sweeping autobiographical memoir that spans nearly nine decades of personal history. Moving from a wartime childhood in England through her academic career in the United States, the book weaves together stories of resilience, intellectual discovery, and the healing power of nature. The narrative alternates between richly detailed life episodes-growing up as an evacuee during WWII, becoming a pioneering woman in academia, raising a family as a single mother-and lyrical “Garden Stories,” meditations rooted in her Berkeley garden that serve as metaphors for growth, loss, and renewal. Through these interwoven strands, Marcus reflects on identity, motherhood, love, resilience, and the solace found in landscapes both cultivated and wild. Ultimately, Groundbreaking is a meditation on survival and thriving-on how land, gardens, and memory shape a life. It is as much a personal journey as it is a testimony to the enduring human need for grounding in place and nature.
Bios:
CLARE COOPER MARCUS (1934–2026) was Professor Emerita, Architecture and Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley. She was internationally recognized for her teaching, research, and publications on the social and psychological implications of design, especially regarding urban open space, family housing, outdoor space in healthcare facilities, and environments for children and the elderly.
LYNNE ELIZABETH is the founding director of New Village Press, an independent nonprofit publisher whose mission is to bring to the world books that nurture rich public discussion and promote understanding of issues vital to healthy, creative, and socially just communities.
About Our Podcast:
At Home, On Air is a radio hour offering connection, community and knowledge to participants. At Home With Growing Older proudly hosts this podcast covering a wide array of topics with guest speakers, who share insights and tips about aging at home. This season, we are exploring the theme, People and Places That Build Community: Creating a Home Away From Home. Find our podcast by searching for “At Home, On Air” on your preferred platform.
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Takeaway Resources:
About Topics / People Mentioned:
- Lynne Elizabeth
- New Village Press
- Clare Cooper Marcus
- Dr. Mindy Fullilove
- Eos Institute for the Study of Sustainable Living
- Healing Landscapes
- Joanna Macy
To Read / Listen:
- Groundbreaking: My Unmapped Path as an Academic, Mother, and Gardener, by Clare Cooper Marcus
- At Home, On Air with Mindy Fullilove
- Awakening Creativity: Dandelion School Blossoms, by Lily Yeh
- My Deepest Desire, by Tamiki Hara, art by Sandy Walker
- Art Against Brutality, by Claudia Bernardi
- Iona Dreaming: The Healing Power of Place, a memoir by Clare Cooper Marcus
Our Resources: