Synopses & Reviews
In
The Last of the Husbandmen, Gene Logsdon looks to his own
roots in Ohio farming life to depict the personal triumphs and tragedies,
clashes and compromises, and abiding human character of American farming
families and communities. From the Great Depression, when farmers tilled
the fields with plow horses, to the corporate farms and government subsidy
programs of the present, this novel presents the complex transformation of a
livelihood and of a way of life.
Two friends, one rich by local standards, and the other of more modest means,
grow to manhood in a lifelong contest of will and character. In response to
many of the same circumstances—war, love, moonshining, the Klan, weather,
the economy—their different approaches and solutions to dealing with their
situations put them at odds with each other, but we are left with a deeper understanding
of the world that they have inherited and have chosen.
Part morality play and part personal recollection, The Last of the Husbandmen
is both a lighthearted look at the past and a profound statement about the
present state of farming life. It is also a novel that captures the spirit of those
who have chosen to work the land they love.
Synopsis
"Nan turned to see Ben's face turn as hard and white as a sauerkraut crock. When he did not respond, Nan figured that he was just going to back off as he usually did, the shy and retiring husbandman. She did not know her history. She did not know that shy and retiring husbandmen have been known to revolt against oppression with pitchforks drawn."
--The Last of the Husbandmen
In The Last of the Husbandmen, Gene Logsdon looks to his own roots in Ohio farming life to depict the personal triumphs and tragedies, clashes and compromises, and abiding human character of American farming families and communities. From the Great Depression, when farmers tilled the fields with plow horses, to the corporate farms and government subsidy programs of the present, this novel presents the complex transformation of a livelihood and of a way of life.
Two friends, one rich by local standards, and the other of more modest means, grow to manhood in a lifelong contest of will and character. In response to many of the same circumstances--war, love, moonshining, the Klan, weather, the economy--their different approaches and solutions to dealing with their situations put them at odds with each other, but we are left with a deeper understanding of the world that they have inherited and have chosen.
Part morality play and part personal recollection, The Last of the Husbandmen is both a lighthearted look at the past and a profound statement about the present state of farming life. It is also a novel that captures the spirit of those who have chosen to work the land they love.
Synopsis
In "The Last of the Husbandmen," Gene Logsdon looks to his own roots in Ohio farming life to depict the personal triumphs and tragedies, clashes and compromises, and abiding human character of American farming families and communities. From the Great Depression, when farmers tilled the fields with plow horses, to the corporate farms and government subsidy programs of the present, this novel presents the complex transformation of a livelihood and of a way of life. Part morality play and part personal recollection, "The" "Last of the Husbandmen" is both a lighthearted look at the past and a profound statement about the present state of farming life. It is also a novel that captures the spirit of those who have chosen to work the land they love.
About the Author
Gene Logsdon lives and raises sheep in
north-central Ohio with his wife, Carol. He
has written twenty-five books, most recently a
novel, The Lords of Folly; a cultural study, The
Mother of All Art: Agrarianism and the Artistic
Impulse; three memoirs: You Can Go Home
Again, The Contrary Farmer, and The Pond
Lover; and a book on experimental ideas in
farming, All Flesh Is Grass.