Back from the Land: How Young Americans Went to Nature in the 1970s and Why They Came Back
by Eleanor Agnew
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Book Summary Information
Author: Eleanor AgnewEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-09-25
ISBN: 1566636647
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
Book Reviews of Back from the Land: How Young Americans Went to Nature in the 1970s and Why They Came Back
Book Review: Wish it were a DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great personal history of the "back to the land" movement of the 70s and what happened to the folks who went there. I only wish there were a History Channel video version so I could show it to my younger friends who don't ever seem to have time to read. Some are, unfortunately, considering a similar path with many of the same unrealistic expectations. They call it "sustainability" these days but to far too many that buzzword is nothing more than the same old simplicity-lust that rears its longing head every every now and then in complex cultures. There is surely some path to a less hectic, more meaningful, more holistic life to be had than the conventional materialistic overachiever society we are (once again) ensconced in but my tongue-in-cheek advice to young friends, largely ignored, has been: "The 'simple life' isn't all that simple, the 'natural life' doesn't occur naturally, and the only real way to get 'back to the land' is through a six foot hole in the earth."
The author illustrates through stories about the lives of those who were there just how difficult it was to jump back into a more self-sufficient country life, especially as we had children who needed more social interfaces. Or as we just realized that getting sick, injured, and just plain older and feebler away from the protective elements of mainstream culture wasn't as great as it seemed when we were young, invincible, and blind with our own ideals. Maybe a few young people will actually read this book before taking a similar plunge and be better off for it. Forewarned is forearmed after all. I'd like to hope the new generation will find itself more prepared to create a better life by paying attention to what has gone before and what failed and succeeded.
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Summary of Back from the Land: How Young Americans Went to Nature in the 1970s and Why They Came Back
When Eleanor Agnew, her husband, and two young children moved to the Maine woods in 1975, the back-to-the-land movement had already attracted untold numbers of converts who had grown increasingly estranged from mainstream American society. This is their story, in all its glories and agonies, its triumphs and disasters (many of them richly amusing), told by a woman who experienced the simple life firsthand but has also read widely and interviewed scores of people who went back to the land. Most of them, it turns out, came back from freedom and self-sufficiency, either by returning to urban life or by dressing up their primitive rural existence--but they held onto the values they gained during their back-to-the-land experience.General Books
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