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 will be published as an At Home, On Air podcast episode in the coming weeks. Participants will be notified by email and sent the takeaway resources. In the meantime, please continue the conversation with those you know and enjoy listening to our archive of episodes:
“Groundbreaking reflects the qualities that defined Clare Cooper Marcus’s life and work — curiosity, resilience, honesty, and a profound belief in the healing power of nature.”
Debra Levin, Hon. FASID, EDAC, President and CEO, the Center for Health Design
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 memoir was completed only weeks before Clare’s death at age 91 in January of this year.
We will be in conversation with her close friend and publisher, Lynne Elizabeth of New Village Press, New York — an innovator in her own right — as 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:
Takeaway resources from this conversation will be released at the time of the podcast episode, approximately two weeks following the live recording.