A New Agrarian Reading List

This list is intended as a starting point for an exploration of agrarian ideas, past and present. It is neither exclusive nor exhaustive, nor are the ideas in the works cited necessarily endorsed by The New Agrarian or its publisher (a caveat from which his own book is probably excluded). I have chosen them to varying degrees for their importance, typicality, accessibility, and relevance to (what I perceive to be) the interests of my readers.

Notations

I have marked with a star the several books that I think are most important or appropriate for beginners.

Most of these works were written for a broad readership. Academic titles have been marked with a red "A," a convention which despite the obvious literary parallel is not intended to place them in disrepute. The label refers to the style and intended audience of the work rather than to the intellectual level of its content. Any interested reader may, however, benefit from the "academic" works listed here.

Agrarianism and pastoralism

Berry, Wendell, The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture, 3d edition (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1996). First edition published 1977.

Berry's seminal work interprets the crisis in American agriculture and ecology as a crisis of culture. His careful analysis of the deep roots of those cultural issues, his examination of the current crises, and his discussion of how we can heal the earth and ourselves make this perhaps the most important agrarian work of the twentieth century. Berry is also the author of some three dozen novels, collections of poetry, and volumes of essays.

Berry, Wendell , The Art of the Commonplace (Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 2002).

A collection of several of Berry's best agrarian essays. Furthers the ideas put forward in The Unsettling of America.

Griswold, A. Whitney, Farming and Democracy (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1948).

Griswold, a political scientist and former president of Yale University, argued in this book that free enterprise, as exemplified by the small family farm, was a crucial foundation of American democracy.

Hesiod, The Works and Days. Available in various translations and editions.

This epic poem, written in the seventh or eighth century B.C., describes the life of a Greek farmer and provided practical advice and moral lessons for the man who would succeed at farming. The key to farming, for Hesiod, was harmony between man and nature, between town and farm, and within a community, though he was not unrealistic in his expectations of humanity.

Jackson, Wes, Becoming Native to This Place (Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 1996).

In this collection of essays Jackson applies the idea of place to agriculture and ecology. He proposes a new agricultural economy based on local ecologies and local communities, arguing that wherever we started out, we must learn to "become native" to the place where we choose to live.

Logsdon, Gene, At Nature's Pace: Farming and the American Dream (New York: Pantheon, 1994).

A collection of articles about American agriculture as it existed in the last quarter of the twentieth century, from the grandest "agribusinessmen" to the humblest Amish farmers. Logson's own experience of farming informs his writing, and his unflinching look at the challenges facing farmers is tempered by his optimism about alternatives to mainstream agriculture.

Northbourne, Lord, Look to the Land (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1940).

Northbourne, who coined the term "organic," called in this book for a return to traditional holistic patterns of life based on agriculture. Farming and a close association with the land were key to what he called an organic life, and both farms and communities should be diverse, organic wholes. Northbourne's conception of an organic community was both deeply spiritual and quite conservative.

Twelve Southerners (John Crowe Ransom, et al), I'll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition (Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 1977). Originally published 1930.

The Nashville Agrarians, as the authors called themselves, came out of Vanderbilt University in the 1920s; they included John Crowe Ransom, Donald Davidson, Allen Tate, and Robert Penn Warren. Their collected essays make a defense of religious humanism and a criticism (as Louis Rubin writes in the introduction to the above edition) of "the erosion of the quality of individual life by the forces of industrialization and the uncritical worship or material progress as an end in itself." (xiv) Some of the essays are dated; a few would now be generally considered openly racist; and the book's call for a return to subsistence farming could have been thought ridiculous even when the book was first written. But the theme of humanism — the belief that life should be defined and lived on a human scale, not by an abstract need for economic "progress."

In particular, I recommend John Crowe Ransom's essay "Reconstructed but Unregenerate," Donald Davidson's "A Mirror for Artists," Lyle H. Lanier's "A Critique of the Philosophy of Progress," and Andrew Nelson Lytle's "The Hind Tit" (on the decay of traditional farming and farm life).

Vergil, The Georgics. Available in various translations and editions.

Vergil, a Roman poet in the first century B.C., wrote these poems as the Empire was being established. He presented the country, and in particular the pasture of shepherd and flock, as the peaceable counterpoint to human cycles of aggression and conflict and thus defined the "pastoral" as a literary device.

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Country books

Country books are books written by farmers about their own experiences. They range from practical homesteading manuals to nature books to works of philosophy; most incorporate elements of all three styles. The twentieth century alone has seen dozens of such books; for an overview and bibliography, see Owings. The titles listed here are some of the most influential.

Borsodi, Ralph, Flight from the City: An Experiment in Creative Living (New York: Harper & Row, 1933).

Borsodi, an economist, moved his family to rural New York state in the 1920s. "What we wanted," he explained, "were all the comforts of the city in addition to the comforts which country life had to offer." Borsodi, like most such writers, saw small-scale, part-time subsistence farming as an alternative to the inefficient, dehumanizing industrial economy. But his disinterest in the idea of the country as morally superior to the city and his harsh criticism of rural institutions such as schools stand out in a genre that attracts the starry-eyed.

Bromfield, Louis, Malabar Farm (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1947).

A journal of Bromfield's New York state farm from fall 1944 to summer 1945, with philosophical musings and commentary on the state of agriculture. Bromfield, an internationally known novelist and Hollywood screenwriter, had a housekeeper and staff at Malabar, and he was frequently visited by celebrities there. Malabar Farm and its predecessor, Pleasant Valley, are not therefore memoirs of the simple life, but they do paint a loving portrait of a farm and of life in the country. In addition, Bromfield, while not a proponent of organic farming per se, argued that the health of the soil was the key to the success of a farm and used the ideas behind organic agriculture to revive his worn-out land.

de Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John, Letters from an American Farmer (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1957). Originally published 1782.

A native of France who settled in rural New York prior to the Revolution, de Crèvecoeur defined the American people as "a people of cultivators." D.H. Lawrence argued that while Benjamin Franklin was the "practical prototype of the American," de Crèvecoeur was the emotional. His letters, along with Jefferson's writings, helped to create the image of the American yeoman farmer.

Logsdon, Gene, The Contrary Farmer (White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green, 1994).

In this collection of essays Logsdon offers a combination of agrarian philosophy, personal observations, and practical advice from his decades of farming in Ohio. His particular interest is in what is required for small-scale farming to be practical, on both a personal and a national scale. Logsdon's wit and self-deprecating label as "contrary" make this an enjoyable as well as a thought-provoking read.

Nearing, Helen, and Scott Nearing, Living the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World (New York: Schocken Books, 1970). Originally published 1954.

The Nearings moved to rural New England to begin a "pioneering" life when Scott was already in his sixties. They found that they could meet their needs for cash income in the six-week maple syrup season and devote the rest of the year to growing their own food and writing. Their low-stress lifestyle focused on self-reliance and good health, both physical and mental. One reviewer called them the "great grandparents of the back-to-the-land movement," although they often had harsh words for the self-centered hippies who "discovered" them in the late 1960s. The Nearings also wrote The Maple Sugar Book (1950) and several other books.

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Agricultural history

Barlett, Peggy F., American Dreams, Rural Realities: Family Farms in Crisis (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993).

Although many books have been written in the last quarter century about the decline of the American family farm — to nearly no practical effect — this study is particularly accessible, thorough, and well-written. Bartlett covers the transformation of American agriculture that took place after the Second World War, its impact on family farms and farm families, the boom of the 1970s and subsequent bust, and the current (circa 1990) situation.

Cochrane, Willard W., The Development of American Agriculture: A Historical Analysis, 2d. ed. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993).

A primarily economic history of American agriculture. His analysis of the problem of overproduction and the "treadmill" of ever-increasing technology is particularly valuable. Cochrane was an advisor to President John Kennedy and has written several books about the economics of agriculture.

Hanson, Victor, The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization (New York: The Free Press, 1995).

Hansen, a professor of Greek history and raisin farmer, argues that the traditional focus on the "city" in Greek city-states misses the contributions of vast numbers of rural Greeks, on whose experience Western agrarianism is largely based. His book examines Greek methods of farming in the first millenium B.C., the culture of farming, and the roles of farmers in Greek society.

Schlebecker, John T., Whereby We Thrive: A History of American Farming, 1607-1972 (Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1975).

Schlebecker's history looks at the economic, legal, and technological development of American agriculture from the first European settlement to the eve of the boom of the 1970s. A good and thorough background on methods and context of farming, if somewhat drily written.

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Rural crisis and reform

Bailey, Liberty Hyde, The State and the Farmer (New York: MacMillan, 1908). Avaialble online from the Minnesota Extension Service.

Bailey, a founder of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, wrote some 300 books on a variety of subjects including horticulture, the importance of nature in education, and botany for laypeople. Bailey was also the chair of Theodore Roosevelt's Country Life Commission and architect of the Cooperative Extension system. The State and the Farmer examines the problem of rural renewal, arguing that cooperation between citizens and government (through such means as cooperative extension) could develop community capacity for local action and self-improvement.

Garkovich, Elaine, Janet T. Bokemeier, and Barbara Foote, Harvest of Hope: Family Farming/Farming Families (Lexington, Ky.: The University Press of Kentucky, 1995).

An oral history of Kentucky farm families with analysis of the changes in their lives and the challenges they faced at the end of the twentieth century. While their analysis is not unique, the authors' reliance on interviews and personal stories makes this a compelling read.

Hightower, Jim, Hard Tomatoes, Hard Times: A Report of the Agribusiness Accountability Project on the Failure of America's Land Grant College Complex (Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman Publishing Company, 1973).

Before he became Texas Commissioner of Agriculture and a well-known populist and political activist, Hightower wrote this scathing criticism of American colleges of agriculture. The land grant colleges, he argued, had been taken over by powerful corporate interests and acted not for the benefit of American farmers (as they had been chartered to do) but for the financial gain of American corporations. Hightower's ironic humor, exemplified by the book's title, lightens what would otherwise be a rather dry account.

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Sustainable agriculture

Faulkner, Edward, Plowman's Folly (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1943).

Faulkner, a self-styled experimental farmer, argues that "the moldboard plow which is in use on farms throughout the civilized world, is the least satisfactory implement for the preparation of land for the production of crops." Writing in the wake of the Dust Bowl, Faulkner saw that plowing led to soil erosion; he proposed instead a "trash culture" of mulching the soil to incorporate organic matter and create a permanent agriculture.

Howard, Sir Albert, An Agricultural Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 1943).

The book that started the movement toward organic farming. Based on decades of research in India, Howard's book describes an agriculture based on nature's model, built on a foundation of organic matter rather than "NPK" fertilizer and chemicals and whose goal is a "wheel of health" that encompasses the soil, plants, domestic animals, and humans.

Jackson, Wes, New Roots for Agriculture (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1980).

An analysis of what Jackson calls the problem of agriculture: that is, the threat human agriculture poses to the biosphere and how we can model agriculture after nature. Jackson is founder of the Land Institute in Selena, Kansas, which researches sustainable grassland farming.

Rodale, J. I., The Organic Front (Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale Press, 1949).

Rodale, the founder and publisher of Organic Gardening magazine, was instrumental to the popularization of organic ideas in the United States. His interest in organic farming stemmed from a lifelong concern with promoting health, and he was an early disciple of Sir Albert Howard [LINK]. Rodale's folksy style and commonsense approach to agriculture gained many supporters among gardeners and amateur farmers but may have alienated professional farmers and serious researchers. This introductory book provides instruction in the art and science of composting and a statement of the "organiculturist's creed."

Steiner, Rudolf, Agriculture: A Course of Eight Lectures, rev. ed. (London: Bio-Dynamic Agricultural Association, 1958). Originally published 1924.

Steiner was the father of what would come to be known as biodynamic farming. His premise, from which he deduced his sytem of agriculture, was that cosmic energies of various kinds traveled from the sun and planets to Earth, where plants converted them to "chemical-material conditions" via photosynthesis. To reunite agriculture with nature and properly preserve the energies of the cosmos, Steiner set out detailed instructions for applying manure to fields that involved burying it in a cow's horn. Astrology aside, his prescriptions for ecological farming are interesting; but his lectures, unfortunately, border on impenetrable, and readers who are interested only in the more practical aspects of biodynamic farming should look elsewhere.

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Ecology and sustainability

Brown, Lester, Building a Sustainable Society (New York: Norton, 1981).

Lester Brown is the author of some two dozen books and the founder of the Worldwatch Institute, a research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues. Building a Sustainable Society predicts the imminent end of the oil age and outlines the changes that will have to take place in our culture and economy to adapt to the new reality. Unfortunately, what is most interesting about this book now is how dated its assumptions seem. Writing at the end of the 1970s, Brown failed to foresee the drop in oil prices and the rebound in the American economy the 1980s would bring, and his prediction that "the transition to a sustainable society is getting under way" brings one to laughter — or tears. Yet Brown's wisdom reamins valuable, and his perspective provides a window into the environmentalism of the 1970s.

Carson, Rachel, Silent Spring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962).

Carson's famous book launched the popular environmental movement and raised awareness of the dangers of toxic agricultural chemicals. Her work for the first time presented the science of ecology in a manner accessible to a broad audience, and so her predictions of ecological disasters and the dangers to human health, as well as her conclusion that humans must relinquish their desire for control of nature, proved remarkably influential. In addition to opening the public discussion that led to the creation of the first environmental regulations and the Environmental Protection Agency, Silent Sprint vitalized the still-embryonic organic farming movement.

Leopold, Aldo, A Sand County Almanac (New York: Oxford University Press, 1949).

Nature sketches and philosophical essays about ecology, the land, and a proper ethic of land use. Leopold, a professor at the University of Wisconsin and longtime employee of the Forestry Service, owned a weekend "sand farm" on which his observations are based. "When we see land as a community to which we belong," he writes, "we may begin to use it with love and respect."

Schumacher, E. F., Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered (London: Blond and Briggs, 1973).

Essays on economic theory that advocate decentralization and question the assumption that progress consists of material and technological advances. Schumacher believed that the affluence of the West could not long be maintained and that the best hope of poor nations was to escape corporate dominance and rely instead upon "intermediate technology" appropriate to a small scale — what would later be called "appropriate technology." Unlike nearly all economists, Schumacher was willing to sacrifice economic growth for meaningful work, civility, and spiritual well-being. Small is Beautiful has been called one of the most influential books of the twentieth century.

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Histories of agrarian ideas

Marx, Leo, The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America (London: Oxford University Press, 1964).

Marx's intellectual history examines the tension between technology and pastoralism in American literature, arguing that American culture is largely the product ot that conflict. His analysis begins with the Anglo-American ideal of rurality as a "middle state" between the wild and the urban and continuing through the end of the nineteenth century. Marx's focus on literature and on pastoralism as a literary device makes this study, I think, somewhat narrow and impractical, but his analysis is excellent within its scope, and the book was extremely infuential in academic circles.

Owings, Loren C., Quest for Walden: A Study of the "Country Book" in American Popular Literature, with an Annotated Bibliography, 1863-1995 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc., 1997).

An overview and analysis of American "country books" (from which I have borrowed the term). Owings provides a useful introduction to the genre and an excellent bibliography, though some of his analysis is rather tepid and would be self-evident to anyone who has lived long in the country (e.g. that many country books are organized by the seasons). Like other intellectual histories, Owings' work suffers occasionally from its exclusively literary focus. I recommend this study primarily for its bibliography of country books.

Shi, David, The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985).

An intellectual history of "voluntary simplicity" movements: that is, the desire to find meaning in life by giving up excess material goods and the philosophy that drives their acquisition. Shi examines this strand of American thought from the Puritans to Thoreau to Jimmy Carter.

Williams, Raymond, The Country and the City (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973).

In this exhaustive literary study, Willliams examines the opposing conceptions of "country" and "city" in English history from the middle ages to the twentieth century. A central theme of writing about rural England, he argues, is nostalgia for a lost "golden age" — a nostalgia that is not new to the modern era but has persisted for centuries.

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