The Unsettling of America
Also known as The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture
Wendell Berry's 1977 critique of industrial agriculture.
At a glance
Key ideas
Agribusiness, "Wrong, root and branch", An agrarian ideal
See all 3Reception
Donald Hall, Russell Kirk
See all 2Connections
Wendell Berry and Russell Kirk
See all 2
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Berry argues that the shift from small, diverse family farms to large, mechanised, chemical agribusiness degrades the land and breaks down rural communities.
- Industrial agriculture puts efficiency and profit above ecological health and community.
- It commodifies land and people and cuts culture off from care for the land.
- Against it he sets an agrarian ideal of limits, commitment to place and interdependence with nature.
Why it matters
- It is a seminal text of agrarian thought and environmental ethics, and influenced the local food movement.
Key facts
Key ideas
Reception
-
Donald Hall1
Called Berry "a prophet of our healing" in the New York Times.
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Russell Kirk1
Wrote that "humane culture has no better friend today than he".
Connections
Links
Sources
Last checked against its sources today
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