The Agrarian Vision

Author : Paul B. Thompson
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813125871
Total Pages : 339 pages
Book Rating : 4.79/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Agrarian Vision written by Paul B. Thompson and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2010-07-07 with total page 339 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.

Author : William H. Major
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
ISBN 13 : 0817317341
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Grounded Vision written by William H. Major and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2011-04-13 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Grounded Vision, William Major puts contemporary agrarian thinking into a conciliatory and productive dialogue with academic criticism. He argues that the lack of participation in academic discussions means a loss to both agrarians and academics, since agrarian thought can enrich other ongoing discussions on topics such as ecocriticism, postmodernism, feminism, work studies, and politics--especially in light of the recent upsurge in grassroots cultural and environmental activities critical of modernity, such as the sustainable agriculture and slow food movements.

Author : Paul B. Thompson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Agrarian Roots of Pragmatism written by Paul B. Thompson and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critically analyzes and revitalizes agrarian philosophy by tracing its evolution. Today, most historians, philosophers, political theorists, and scholars of rural America take a dim view of the agrarian ideal that farmers and farming occupy a special moral and political status in society. Agrarian rhetoric is generally seen as special pleading on the part of farmers seeking protection from labor reform and environmental regulation while continuing to receive direct payments and subsidies from the public till. Agrarianism should not be viewed as a set of immutable claims about farming and political order, but as a tradition of moral and political philosophy that has evolved and deepened over the centuries. Agrarian naturalism--the belief that culture and conduct are conditioned by nature because they are of a piece with nature--becomes pragmatic naturalism, giving way to a new set of puzzles about how we are to understand the rural landscape and our responsibilities for its use. The agrarian idea that personality and sociability are integrated with the material transformation of the landscape can serve as the basis for a new, pragmatically grounded ethic of natural resources and rural development. The essays in this volume critically analyze and revitalize agrarian philosophy by tracing its evolution in the classical American philosophy of key figures such as Franklin, Jefferson, Emerson, Thoreau, Dewey, and Royce. Three chapters address the belief that farming peoples develop moral virtue and a taste for democracy as it evolved in the American context, and four examine how a reconstitution of agrarian themes might invigorate our nation's thinking on environment, food, and rural development policy. The Agrarian Roots of Pragmatism will be of broad interest to scholars of American philosophy, rural history, history of ideas, geography, and agricultural or natural resource policy.

Author : Norman Wirzba
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813130182
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Essential Agrarian Reader written by Norman Wirzba and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2010-09-29 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a Foreword by Barbara Kingsolver. A compelling worldview with advocates from around the globe, agrarianism challenges the shortcomings of our industrial and technological economy. Not simply focused on farming, the agrarian outlook encourages us to develop practices and policies that promote the health of land, community, and culture. Agrarianism reminds us that no matter how urban we become, our survival will always be inextricably linked to the precious resources of soil, water, and air. Combining fresh insights from the disciplines of education, law, history, urban and regional planning, economics, philosophy, religion, ecology, politics, and agriculture, these original essays develop a sophisticated critique of our culture's current relationship to the land, while offering practical alternatives. Leading agrarians, including Wendell Berry, Vandana Shiva, Wes Jackson, Gene Logsdon, Brian Donahue, Eric Freyfogle, and David Orr, explain how our goals should be redirected toward genuinely sustainable communities. These writers call us to an honest accounting and correction of our often destructive ways. They suggest how our society can take practical steps toward integrating soils, watersheds, forests, wildlife, urban areas, and human populations into one great system—a responsible flourishing of our world and culture.

Author : John Crowe Ransom
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN 13 : 0268101965
Total Pages : 116 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Land! written by John Crowe Ransom and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2017-03-30 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a National Book Award winner, “an indictment of a system that values accumulation, shareholder profit . . . over . . . self-sufficiency, and solidarity.” (Robert Neuwirth, author of Stealth of Nations: The Global Rise of the Informal Economy) John Crowe Ransom's Land! is a previously unpublished work that unites the accomplished literary scholar’s poetic sensibilities with an examination of economics at the height of the Great Depression. Politically charged with Ransom's aesthetic beliefs about literature and his agrarian interpretation of economics, Land! was long thought to have been burned by its author after he failed to find a publisher. Thankfully, the manuscript was discovered, and we are now able to read this unique and interesting contribution to the Southern Agrarian revival. After the publication of the Agrarian movement manifesto I’ll Take My Stand in 1930, Ransom, a contributor, became convinced that the book had not adequately proposed an economic alternative to Northern industrialism, which had fairly obliterated the Southern way of life. Land! was Ransom's attempt to fill this gap. In it he presents the weaknesses inherent in capitalism and proposes instead that agrarianism, which could flourish alongside capitalism, would relieve the problems of unemployment. America, Ransom claims, is unique in offering this opportunity because, unlike in European countries, land is plentiful. “Ransom joins Lauck in championing the values fostered by rural and small-town America. Is this just wishful thinking? Perhaps, and yet don’t we sometimes need to step back before we can leap forward?” —The Washington Post “Ransom’s affection for traditional rural culture provides an enjoyable warm streak in the book.” —Choice “Mr. Ransom’s highly original argument unfolds in beautifully written prose. . . . engaging and thought-provoking.” —George Core, retired editor of The Sewanee Review

Author : Eric T. Freyfogle
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 081313823X
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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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.

Author : Edwin C. Hagenstein
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300137095
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

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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.

Author : Aldo Lauria-Santiago
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN 13 : 0822972026
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book An Agrarian Republic written by Aldo Lauria-Santiago and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 1999-06-15 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With unprecedented use of local and national sources, Lauria-Santiago presents a more complex portrait of El Salvador than has ever been ventured before. Using thoroughly researched regional case studies, Lauria-Santiago challenges the accepted vision of Central America in the nineteenth century and critiques the "liberal oligarchic hegemony" model of El Salvador. He reveals the existence of a diverse, commercially active peasantry that was deeply involved with local and national networks of power.

Author : Peter Rosset
Publisher : Food First Books
ISBN 13 : 9780935028287
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Promised Land written by Peter Rosset and published by Food First Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book represents the first harvest in the English language of the work of the Land Research Action Network (LRAN). LRAN is an international working group of researchers, analysts, nongovernment organizations, and representatives of social movements. -- pref.

Author : Charles Postel
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0195384717
Total Pages : 626 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Populist Vision written by Charles Postel and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2009 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major reinterpretation of the Populist movement, this text argues that the Populists were modern people, rejecting the notion that Populism opposed modernity and progress.