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Original Essays | October 18, 2009

Victoria Hislop: IMG From Leprosy to Lorca β€” Strange Inspiration



My first novel, The Island, was inspired by a chance visit to a tiny island leper colony off the coast of Greece on our summer holiday. It was a... Continue »
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The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry

by Wendell Berry

The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The Art of the Commonplace gathers twenty-one essays by Wendell Berry that offer an agrarian alternative to our dominant urban culture. These essays promote a clearly defined and compelling vision important to all people dissatisfied with the stress, anxiety, disease, and destructiveness of contemporary American culture. Why is agriculture becoming culturally irrelevant, and at what cost? What are the forces of social disintegration and how might they be reversed? How might men and women live together in ways that benefit both? And, how does the corporate takeover of social institutions and economic practices contribute to the destruction of human and natural environments?

Through his staunch support of local economies, his defense of farming communities, and his call for family integrity, Berry emerges as the champion of responsibilities and priorities that serve the health, vitality, and happiness of the whole community of creation.

Review:

"These are beautifully crafted essays, replete with social criticism, righteous anger, moral guidance, and lyrical wording....Highly recommended." Library Journal

Synopsis:

Essential essays are included in this volume from Wendell Berry's writings onagrarianism, agriculture, and community.

About the Author

Wendell Berry, an essayist, novelist, and poet, has been honored with the T. S. Eliot Award, the Aiken Taylor Award for poetry, and the John Hay Award of the Orion Society. He lives with his wife on a farm in Henry County, Kentucky.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
pamandal, August 5, 2008 (view all comments by pamandal)
This is a book that must be savored, not skimmed. I appreciate Berry's perspective, especially given the state of our world today. He writes, β€œIt is not from ourselves that we will learn to be better than we are.” A profound truth!
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(1 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
ann-locates, June 7, 2008 (view all comments by ann-locates)
Super writings collected into one book.
Berry makes one think even if he does not quite
understand.
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(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
K Magill, June 3, 2008 (view all comments by K Magill)
Localvores and potential localvores, check this one out: Wendell Berry has been laying the groundwork for the sustainable-local-organic foods movement for decades. There is some truly beautiful prose here, especially the last essay, "The Pleasures of Eating."
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(7 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781593760076
Subtitle:
The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry
Author:
Berry, Wendell
Editor:
Wirzba, Norman
Author:
Berry, Wendell
Publisher:
Shoemaker & Hoard
Location:
Washington, DC
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Essays
Subject:
United states
Subject:
American - General
Subject:
American literature
Subject:
Agriculture
Subject:
FICTION / Literary
Subject:
Agriculture - General
Subject:
Agriculture -- United States.
Subject:
Agriculture -- Economic aspects.
Edition Description:
First Shoemaker & Hoard paperback edition
Series Volume:
no.5
Publication Date:
September 2003
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
330
Dimensions:
906x604x91 110

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