Reddit reviews Lawn People: How Grasses, Weeds, and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are

Another book on this topic from 2007 is called Lawn People, and it is a political ecology of the lawn. Interesting stuff! The book argues that grass species have a remarkable amount of influence over American decision making, and that this has been true since the second World War.

The book doesn't focus on older lawns as much, and it's very much about America. While others here are citing Tudor/Elizabethan roots, there's just no way that trimmed lawns enjoyed anything like their contemporary ubiquity prior to the proliferation of post-war Suburbia.