The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813122856 ISBN 13: 9780813122854

Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky, 2003

Synopsis

With a Foreword by Barbara Kingsolver. A compelling worldview with advocates from around the globe, agrarianism challenges the shortcomings of our industrial and technological economy. Not simply focused on farming, the agrarian outlook encourages us to develop practices and policies that promote the health of land, community, and culture. Agrarianism reminds us that no matter how urban we become, our survival will always be inextricably linked to the precious resources of soil, water, and air. Combining fresh insights from the disciplines of education, law, history, urban and regional planning, economics, philosophy, religion, ecology, politics, and agriculture, these original essays develop a sophisticated critique of our culture's current relationship to the land, while offering practical alternatives. Leading agrarians, including Wendell Berry, Vandana Shiva, Wes Jackson, Gene Logsdon, Brian Donahue, Eric Freyfogle, and David Orr, explain how our goals should be redirected toward genuinely sustainable communities. These writers call us to an honest accounting and correction of our often destructive ways. They suggest how our society can take practical steps toward integrating soils, watersheds, forests, wildlife, urban areas, and human populations into one great system -- a responsible flourishing of our world and culture.

About this title

About the Author:

Norman Wirzba, associate professor and chair of the philosophy department at Georgetown College, is the author of The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age and editor of The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry.

Review:

"Here is a primer on real 'homeland security'--on preserving the sources of clean air, pure water, nutritious food, caring communities, and good work. If you wish to understand what's wrong with our present way of life, and if you wish to envision a more decent, sustainable, and joyful alternative, read on."

About this edition

• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0813122856
• ISBN 13: 9780813122854
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Wirzba Norman