In the twenty-two essays collected here, Wendell Berry, whom The Christian Science Monitor called “the prophetic American voice of our day,” conveys a deep concern for the American economic system and the gluttonous American consumer. Berry talks to the reader as one would talk to a next-door neighbor: never preachy, he comes across as someone offering sound advice. He speaks with sadness of the greedy consumption of this country’s natural resources and the grim consequences Americans must face if current economic practices do not change drastically. In the end, these essays offer rays of hope in an otherwise bleak forecast of America's future. Berry’s program presents convincing steps for America’s agricultural and cultural survival.
Worthy Read With sharp insight Berry's essays serve as a vision of a different life with different values: values of family, land, preservation, and thrift. Worth the time to read though Berry's vocabulary may be a hindrance to some less accomplished readers.
Remember the partridge Certainly Wendell Berry is a writer who helps us decipher our wings from our weights. We Americans need that as our things so weigh us down that we forget to try our wings. In quoting Blake, "No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings," he reminds us of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus the craftsman could use his craft to fashion waxen wings to help his son escape murderous pursuit but could not protect Icarus from the consequences of his own poor judgement. Daedalus himself was guilty of poor judgement when he pushed from a high tower his nephew whose invention surpassed his own. Fortunately a goddess intervened and before impact the nephew was transformed into an humble creature, the low-flying, bush-roosting partridge. Our model here, the partridge, knows his limits. Knowledge and technology help us but do not help us infinitely. Our judgement in using technology may be flawed but it is not the fault of technology. Afterall, our bare hands were ill-used before there were axes to blame. Berry warns that our damages make us pestilent and that culture provides apology but seems to forget his own tenet that culture arises from community and our communal spirit, including our joys and our sorrows. As humble servants and caretakers of what we are graced with, we stand in awe of earth and sky. When we yoke ourselves with the weight of the damage we have done we are being mindful. But if we confine our spirit with scruples we will never soar. And we are nothing if not flocking creatures magnificent in full formation stroking the air for all we are worth.
A good argument for a return to our roots Berry is a highly-respected environmental writer who advocates a move back to smaller communities more closely tied to the land. This is a collection of his essays. They are good, although I enjoyed his book Sex, Economy, Freedom, & Community better because it was more of a cohesive unit.
Should Be Read By All This book sits on my coffee table in the living room. I draw from Mr. Berry's philosophy and writings almost daily. This book should be required reading in colleges and universities. It speaks of the sensibilities most of us have forgotten. I have loaned my copy to many friends, all have read it, it has changed the way they approach their lives and how they look at how we all live.
If Only More People Listened I do not agree with everything Berry says in this book, but I must confess that he changed the way I see the world. His lucid dissections of American culture and economical practices, his bottom-up solutions to the problems facing us today, and his unselfish, honest prose convinced me of most of his points. Here is a writer not in it for fame or awards or prestige. Here we have a truly passionate, motivated, moral voice for these hollow times.
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