Cultivating Ecological Agrarianism

Download Cultivating Ecological Agrarianism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 412 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (85 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Cultivating Ecological Agrarianism by : Leah Bayens

Download or read book Cultivating Ecological Agrarianism written by Leah Bayens and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Cultivating Knowledge

Download Cultivating Knowledge PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
ISBN 13 : 0816539634
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (165 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Cultivating Knowledge by : Andrew Flachs

Download or read book Cultivating Knowledge written by Andrew Flachs and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A single seed is more than just the promise of a plant. In rural south India, seeds represent diverging paths toward a sustainable livelihood. Development programs and global agribusiness promote genetically modified seeds and organic certification as a path toward more sustainable cotton production, but these solutions mask a complex web of economic, social, political, and ecological issues that may have consequences as dire as death. In Cultivating Knowledge anthropologist Andrew Flachs shows how rural farmers come to plant genetically modified or certified organic cotton, sometimes during moments of agrarian crisis. Interweaving ethnographic detail, discussions of ecological knowledge, and deep history, Flachs uncovers the unintended consequences of new technologies, which offer great benefits to some—but at others’ expense. Flachs shows that farmers do not make simple cost-benefit analyses when evaluating new technologies and options. Their evaluation of development is a complex and shifting calculation of social meaning, performance, economics, and personal aspiration. Only by understanding this complicated nexus can we begin to understand sustainable agriculture. By comparing the experiences of farmers engaged with these mutually exclusive visions for the future of agriculture, Cultivating Knowledge investigates the human responses to global agrarian change. It illuminates the local impact of global changes: the slow, persistent dangers of pesticides, inequalities in rural life, the aspirations of people who grow fibers sent around the world, the place of ecological knowledge in modern agriculture, and even the complex threat of suicide. It all begins with a seed.

Agrarian Spirit

Download Agrarian Spirit PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780268203115
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (31 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Agrarian Spirit by : Norman Wirzba

Download or read book Agrarian Spirit written by Norman Wirzba and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Agrarianism and the Good Society

Download Agrarianism and the Good Society PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 081313823X
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Agrarianism and the Good Society by : Eric T. Freyfogle

Download or read book Agrarianism and the Good Society written by Eric T. Freyfogle and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2007-03-02 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every society expresses its fundamental values and hopes in the ways it inhabits its landscapes. In this literate and wide-ranging exploration, Eric T. Freyfogle raises difficult questions about America's core values while illuminating the social origins of urban sprawl, dwindling wildlife habitats, and over-engineered rivers. These and other land-use crises, he contends, arise mostly because of cultural attitudes that made sense on the American frontier but now threaten the land's ecological fabric. To support and sustain healthy communities, profound adjustments will be required. Freyfogle's search leads him down unusual paths. He probes Charles Frazier's novel Cold Mountain for insights on the healing power of nature and tests the wisdom in Wendell Berry's fiction. He challenges journalists writing about environmental issues to get beyond well-worn rhetoric and explain the true choices that Americans face. In an imaginary job advertisement, he issues a call for a national environmental leader, identifying the skills and knowledge required, taking note of cultural obstacles, and looking critically at supposed allies. Examining recent federal elections, he largely blames the conservation cause and its inattention to cultural issues for the diminished status of the environment as a decisive issue. Agrarianism and the Good Society identifies the social, historical, political, and cultural obstacles to humans' harmony with nature and advocates a new orientation, one that begins with healthy land and that better reflects our utter dependence on it. In all, Agrarianism and the Good Society offers a critical yet hopeful guide for cultural change, essential for anyone interested in the benefits and creative possibilities of responsible land use.

Cultivating an Ecological Conscience

Download Cultivating an Ecological Conscience PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813125782
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Cultivating an Ecological Conscience by : Frederick L. Kirschenmann

Download or read book Cultivating an Ecological Conscience written by Frederick L. Kirschenmann and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2010-04-14 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theologian, academic, and third-generation organic farmer Frederick L. Kirschenmann is a celebrated agricultural thinker. In the last thirty years he has tirelessly promoted the principles of sustainability and has become a legend in his own right. Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher documents Kirschenmann’s evolution and his lifelong contributions to the new agrarianism in a collection of his greatest writings on farming, philosophy, and sustainability. Working closely with agricultural economist and editor Constance L. Falk, Kirschenmann recounts his intellectual and spiritual journey. In a unique blend of personal history, philosophical discourse, spiritual ruminations, and practical advice, Kirschenmann interweaves his insights with discussion of contemporary agrarian topics. This collection serves as an invaluable resource to agrarian scholars and introduces readers to an agricultural pioneer whose work has profoundly influenced modern thinking about food.

The Agrarian Vision

Download The Agrarian Vision PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813139805
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Agrarian Vision by : Paul B. Thompson

Download or read book The Agrarian Vision written by Paul B. Thompson and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2010-07-30 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As industry and technology proliferate in modern society, sustainability has jumped to the forefront of contemporary political and environmental discussions. The balance between progress and the earth's ability to provide for its inhabitants grows increasingly precarious as we attempt to achieve sustainable development. In The Agrarian Vision: Sustainability and Environmental Ethics, Paul B. Thompson articulates a new agrarian philosophy, emphasizing the vital role of agrarianism in modern agricultural practices. Thompson, a highly regarded voice in environmental philosophy, unites concepts of agrarian philosophy, political theory, and environmental ethics to illustrate the importance of creating and maintaining environmentally conscious communities. Thompson describes the evolution of agrarian values in America, following the path blazed by Thomas Jefferson, John Steinbeck, and Wendell Berry. Providing a pragmatic approach to ecological responsibility and commitment, The Agrarian Vision is a significant, compelling argument for the practice of a reconfigured and expanded agrarianism in our efforts to support modern industrialized culture while also preserving the natural world.

Agrarian Spirit

Download Agrarian Spirit PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN 13 : 0268203083
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (682 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Agrarian Spirit by : Norman Wirzba

Download or read book Agrarian Spirit written by Norman Wirzba and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2022-08-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This refreshing work offers a distinctly agrarian reframing of spiritual practices to address today’s most pressing social and ecological concerns. For thousands of years most human beings drew their daily living from, and made sense of their lives in reference to, the land. Growing and finding food, along with the multiple practices of home maintenance and the cultivations of communities, were the abiding concerns that shaped what people understood about and expected from life. In Agrarian Spirit, Norman Wirzba demonstrates how agrarianism is of vital and continuing significance for spiritual life today. Far from being the exclusive concern of a dwindling number of farmers, this book shows how agrarian practices are an important corrective to the political and economic policies that are doing so much harm to our society and habitats. It is an invitation to the personal transformation that equips all people to live peaceably and beautifully with each other and the land. Agrarian Spirit begins with a clear and concise affirmation of creaturely life. Wirzba shows that a human life is inextricably entangled with the lives of fellow animals and plants, and that individual flourishing must always include the flourishing of the habitats that nourish and sustain our life together. The book explores how agrarian sensibilities and responsibilities transform the practices of prayer, perception, mystical union, humility, gratitude, and hope. Wirzba provides an elegant and compelling account of spiritual life that is both attuned to ancient scriptural sources and keyed to addressing the pressing social and ecological concerns of today. Scholars and students of theology, ecotheology, and spirituality, as well as readers interested in agrarian and environmental studies, will gain much from this book.

Cultivating an Ecological Conscience

Download Cultivating an Ecological Conscience PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Catapult
ISBN 13 : 1582437521
Total Pages : 417 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (824 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Cultivating an Ecological Conscience by : Fred Kirschenmann

Download or read book Cultivating an Ecological Conscience written by Fred Kirschenmann and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2011-08-30 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than thirty years, Frederick Kirschenmann has explored the ethical and practical principles of sustainable agriculture. An accomplished theologian, philosopher, and third–generation farmer, Kirschenmann is a dynamic leading voice in the dialogue about the challenges of modern agriculture. Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher follows Kirschenmann's personal and professional evolution as a lifelong proponent of new agrarianism. Together with agricultural economist Constance L. Falk, Kirschenmann has compiled a collection of his essential writings on farming, philosophy, and sustainability. In this fascinating blend of personal history, philosophical discourse, spiritual ruminations, and practical advice, Kirschenmann shares candid, valuable insights about the agricultural challenges facing the modern world and the necessity of achieving ecologically sound and responsible stewardship of the land. This rich book follows the development of Kirschenmann's long and distinguished career, from childhood lessons learned on the family farm to his inventive approaches for addressing contemporary agrarian issues. More than a mere retrospective, these these essays serve as an introduction to the life and wok of an extraordinary agricultural thinker.

Agrarian Landscapes in Transition

Download Agrarian Landscapes in Transition PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190451297
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (94 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Agrarian Landscapes in Transition by : Charles Redman

Download or read book Agrarian Landscapes in Transition written by Charles Redman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-18 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agrarian Landscapes in Transition researches human interaction with the earth. With hundreds of acres of agricultural land going out of production every day, the introduction, spread, and abandonment of agriculture represents the most pervasive alteration of the Earth's environment for several thousand years. What happens when humans impose their spatial and temporal signatures on ecological regimes, and how does this manipulation affect the earth and nature's desire for equilibrium? Studies were conducted at six Long Term Ecological Research sites within the US, including New England, the Appalachian Mountains, Colorado, Michigan, Kansas, and Arizona. While each site has its own unique agricultural history, patterns emerge that help make sense of how our actions have affected the earth, and how the earth pushes back. The book addresses how human activities influence the spatial and temporal structures of agrarian landscapes, and how this varies over time and across biogeographic regions. It also looks at the ecological and environmental consequences of the resulting structural changes, the human responses to these changes, and how these responses drive further changes in agrarian landscapes. The time frames studied include the ecology of the earth before human interaction, pre-European human interaction during the rise and fall of agricultural land use, and finally the biological and cultural response to the abandonment of farming, due to complete abandonment or a land-use change such as urbanization.

Agrarian Studies

Download Agrarian Studies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300085028
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Agrarian Studies by : James C. Scott

Download or read book Agrarian Studies written by James C. Scott and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents an account of an intellectual breakthrough in the study of rural society and agriculture. Its ten chapters, selected for their originality and synthesis from the colloquia of the Program in Agrarian Studies at Yale University, encompass various disciplines, diverse historical periods, and several regions of the world. The contributors' fresh analyses will broaden the perspectives of readers with interests as wide-ranging as rural sociology, environmentalism, political science, history, anthropology, economics, and art history. The ten studies recast and expand what is known about rural society and agrarian issues, examining such topics as poverty, subsistence, cultivation, ecology, justice, art, custom, law, ritual life, cooperation, and state action. Each contribution provides a point of departure for new study, encouraging deeper thinking across disciplinary boundaries and frontiers.

Shifting Cultivation and Environmental Change

Download Shifting Cultivation and Environmental Change PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317750187
Total Pages : 1405 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (177 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Shifting Cultivation and Environmental Change by : Malcolm F. Cairns

Download or read book Shifting Cultivation and Environmental Change written by Malcolm F. Cairns and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-01-09 with total page 1405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shifting cultivation is one of the oldest forms of subsistence agriculture and is still practised by millions of poor people in the tropics. Typically it involves clearing land (often forest) for the growing of crops for a few years, and then moving on to new sites, leaving the earlier ground fallow to regain its soil fertility. This book brings together the best of science and farmer experimentation, vividly illustrating the enormous diversity of shifting cultivation systems as well as the power of human ingenuity. Some critics have tended to disparage shifting cultivation (sometimes called 'swidden cultivation' or 'slash-and-burn agriculture') as unsustainable due to its supposed role in deforestation and land degradation. However, the book shows that such indigenous practices, as they have evolved over time, can be highly adaptive to land and ecology. In contrast, 'scientific' agricultural solutions imposed from outside can be far more damaging to the environment and local communities. The book focuses on successful agricultural strategies of upland farmers, particularly in south and south-east Asia, and presents over 50 contributions by scholars from around the world and from various disciplines, including agricultural economics, ecology and anthropology. It is a sequel to the much praised "Voices from the Forest: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge into Sustainable Upland Farming" (RFF Press, 2007), but all chapters are completely new and there is a greater emphasis on the contemporary challenges of climate change and biodiversity conservation.

Ecological Agrarian

Download Ecological Agrarian PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Purdue University Press
ISBN 13 : 9781557532961
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (329 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Ecological Agrarian by : Justin Bishop Grewell

Download or read book Ecological Agrarian written by Justin Bishop Grewell and published by Purdue University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As population growth levels off and production yields continue to grow, demands on agriculture are changing and the focus of agriculture is changing too."--BOOK JACKET.

Religion and Sustainable Agriculture

Download Religion and Sustainable Agriculture PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 081316799X
Total Pages : 394 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Religion and Sustainable Agriculture by : Todd LeVasseur

Download or read book Religion and Sustainable Agriculture written by Todd LeVasseur and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2016-10-21 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Distinct practices of eating are at the heart of many of the world's faith traditions -- from the Christian Eucharist to Muslim customs of fasting during Ramadan to the vegetarianism and asceticism practiced by some followers of Hinduism and Buddhism. What we eat, how we eat, and whom we eat with can express our core values and religious devotion more clearly than verbal piety. In this wide-ranging collection, eminent scholars, theologians, activists, and lay farmers illuminate how religious beliefs influence and are influenced by the values and practices of sustainable agriculture. Together, they analyze a multitude of agricultural practices for their contributions to healthy, ethical living and environmental justice. Throughout, the contributors address current critical issues, including global trade agreements, indigenous rights to land and seed, and the effects of postcolonialism on farming and industry. Covering indigenous, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish perspectives, this groundbreaking volume makes a significant contribution to the study of ethics and agriculture.

Wendell Berry and the Agrarian Tradition

Download Wendell Berry and the Agrarian Tradition PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700619690
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (6 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Wendell Berry and the Agrarian Tradition by : Kimberly K. Smith

Download or read book Wendell Berry and the Agrarian Tradition written by Kimberly K. Smith and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2014-01-17 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Farmer and conservationist Wendell Berry has published more than thirty books, making his name a household word among environmentalists. From his Kentucky farm, Berry preaches and practices stewardship of the land as he seeks to defend the value and traditions of farm life in an industrial capitalist society. A central figure in the greening of American agrarianism, Berry has been an advocate of small farming and traditional values who has tirelessly reminded readers that sustainable agriculture is more than a catchphrase. Kimberly Smith now reveals the depth of his ideas and their relevance for American social and political theory. Berry's central teaching focuses on the fragility of our natural and social worlds; Smith's timely book revisits the problem of living a meaningful life in a world filled with both deadly perils and unimagined possibilities. Hers is the first book to explore the implications of this central tenet and other key aspects of Berry's thought, as well as his overall contribution to environmental theory and politics. Smith shows how the many strands of Berry's thought can be woven together into a coherent agrarian philosophy. Focusing on his relationship to the American agrarian and environmental traditions, she examines how Berry's ecological agrarianism derives from the concept of "grace," or living in concert with nature and society. Along the way, she defends his social theory against accusations of utopianism, shows how his moral theory subverts the notion of rugged individualism usually associated with farming, and reviews his political theory's argument for decentralized democracy. By assessing Berry's reformulation of democratic agrarianism, Smith goes beyond any previous critiques of his writing, and her exploration of Berry's moral vision shows that such vision is more relevant as America continues to move further away from its agrarian past.

Liberty Hyde Bailey

Download Liberty Hyde Bailey PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 0801457599
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Liberty Hyde Bailey by : Liberty Hyde Bailey

Download or read book Liberty Hyde Bailey written by Liberty Hyde Bailey and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-02-23 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Nature-study not only educates, but it educates nature-ward; and nature is ever our companion, whether we will or no. Even though we are determined to shut ourselves in an office, nature sends her messengers. The light, the dark, the moon, the cloud, the rain, the wind, the falling leaf, the fly, the bouquet, the bird, the cockroach-they are all ours. If one is to be happy, he must be in sympathy with common things. He must live in harmony with his environment. One cannot be happy yonder nor tomorrow: he is happy here and now, or never. Our stock of knowledge of common things should be great. Few of us can travel. We must know the things at home."—from "The Meaning of the Nature-study Movement" "To feel that one is a useful and cooperating part in nature is to give one kinship, and to open the mind to the great resources and the high enthusiasms. Here arise the fundamental common relations. Here arise also the great emotions and conceptions of sublimity and grandeur, of majesty and awe, the uplift of vast desires—when one contemplates the earth and the universe and desires to take them into the soul and to express oneself in their terms; and here also the responsible practices of life take root."—from The Holy Earth Before Wendell Berry and Aldo Leopold, there was the horticulturalist and botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858–1954). For Wendell Berry, Bailey was a revelation, a symbol of the nature-minded agrarianism Berry himself popularized. For Aldo Leopold, Bailey offered a model of the scholar-essayist-naturalist. In his revolutionary work of eco-theology, The Holy Earth, Bailey challenged the anthropomorphism—the people-centeredness—of a vulnerable world. A trained scientist writing in the lyrical tradition of Emerson, Burroughs, and Muir, Bailey offered the twentieth century its first exquisitely interdisciplinary biocentric worldview; this Michigan farmer's son defined the intellectual and spiritual foundations of what would become the environmental movement. For nearly a half century, Bailey dominated matters agricultural, environmental, and scientific in the United States. He worked both to improve the lives of rural folk and to preserve the land from which they earned their livelihood. Along the way, he popularized nature study in U.S. classrooms, lobbied successfully for women's rights on and off the farm, and bulwarked Teddy Roosevelt's pioneering conservationism. Here for the first time is an anthology of Bailey's most important writings suitable for the general and scholarly reader alike. Carefully selected and annotated by Zachary Michael Jack, this book offers a comprehensive introduction to Bailey's celebrated and revolutionary thinking on the urgent environmental, agrarian, educational, and ecospiritual dilemmas of his day and our own. Culled from ten of Bailey's most influential works, these lyrical selections highlight Bailey's contributions to the nature-study and the Country Life movements. Published on the one-hundredth anniversary of Bailey's groundbreaking report on behalf of the Country Life Commission, Liberty Hyde Bailey: Essential Agrarian and Environmental Writings will inspire a new generation of nature writers, environmentalists, and those who share with Bailey a profound understanding of the elegance and power of the natural world and humanity's place within it.

Settlement Ecology

Download Settlement Ecology PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
ISBN 13 : 0816515670
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (165 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Settlement Ecology by : Glenn Davis Stone

Download or read book Settlement Ecology written by Glenn Davis Stone and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 1996-11 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What determines agrarian settlement patterns? Glenn Davis Stone addresses this question by analyzing the spatial aspects of agrarian ecology--the relationship between how farmers farm and where they settle--and how farming and settlement change as population density rises. Crosscutting the fields of cultural anthropology, archaeology, geography, and agricultural economics, Settlement Ecology presents a new perspective on the process of agricultural intensification and explores the relationships between intensification and settlement decision making. Stone insists that paleotechnic ("traditional") agriculture must be seen as a social process, with the social organization of agricultural work playing a key role in shaping settlement characteristics. These relationships are demonstrated in a richly documented case study of the Kofyar, who have been settling a frontier in the Nigerian savanna. The history of agricultural change and the development of the settlement pattern are reconstructed through ethnography, archival research, and aerial photos and are analyzed using innovative graphical methods. Stone also reflects on the limits of ecological determination of settlement, comparing the farming and settlement trajectories of the Kofyar and Tiv on the same frontier.

American Georgics

Download American Georgics PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300137095
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis American Georgics by : Edwin C. Hagenstein

Download or read book American Georgics written by Edwin C. Hagenstein and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Thomas Jefferson's Monticello to Michelle Obama's White House organic garden, the image of America as a nation of farmers has persisted from the beginnings of the American experiment. In this rich and evocative collection of agrarian writing from the past two centuries, writers from Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur to Wendell Berry reveal not only the great reach and durability of the American agrarian ideal, but also the ways in which society has contested and confronted its relationship to agriculture over the course of generations. Drawing inspiration from Virgil's agrarian epic poem, Georgics, this collection presents a complex historical portrait of the American character through its relationship to the land. From the first European settlers eager to cultivate new soil, to the Transcendentalist, utopian, and religious thinkers of the nineteenth century, American society has drawn upon the vision of a pure rural life for inspiration. Back-to-the-land movements have surged and retreated in the past centuries yet provided the agrarian roots for the environmental movement of the past forty years. Interpretative essays and a sprinkling of illustrations accompany excerpts from each of these periods of American agrarian thought, providing a framework for understanding the sweeping changes that have confronted the nation's landscape.