'Field Days,' by Jonah Raskin
A review by Regan McMahon
At the end of the fall semester of 2006, Sonoma State University communications Professor and author Jonah Raskin, about to turn 65, decided he needed to get in touch with the earth and explore his rural surroundings. "Before it was too late," he writes in Field Days, the account of his yearlong journey among the organic farmers, farmworkers and winemakers of Sonoma County. "Before life passed me by....I wanted to regain something I had lost, and to work alongside men and women who were cultivating the earth. I wanted to eat as though for the first time, with a sense of newness." Part scholarly research, part you-are-there journalism and part memoir, his book is filled with stories of people's lives, heritage and motivations for working the land the way they do. We meet chefs, restaurateurs, farmers' market produce vendors and organic grocers - such a dizzying cast of characters that some readers may grow weary. But each one's story is illuminating. Raskin explicitly makes the...
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Previously Reviewed by San Francisco Chronicle
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The National Book Critics Circle, founded in 1974, is a non-profit organization consisting of more than 850 active book reviewers who are interested in honoring quality writing and communicating with one another about common concerns. To learn about how to join, click here.
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