The Unsettling of America

Culture & Agriculture

Wendell Berry

Recommended By

Book Synopsis

"The Unsettling of America" by Wendell Berry is a penetrating critique of modern industrial agriculture and its detrimental impact on the American landscape, communities, and human well-being. Drawing on his experiences as a farmer, environmental activist, and poet, Berry argues that the dominant model of industrial farming, which focuses on maximizing productivity and profits, is fundamentally unsustainable and degrading to both the land and its inhabitants.

Berry contends that this extractive and exploitative approach to agriculture has led to the erosion of rural communities, the degradation of soil fertility, the loss of biodiversity, and the alienation of individuals from both their food and the natural world. He delves into the social, economic, and ecological consequences of this system, highlighting the importance of small-scale farming, the stewardship of land, and the necessity of honoring local knowledge and traditions.

Throughout the book, Berry offers a powerful indictment of the industrial mindset that prioritizes efficiency and profit over the health of the land and the well-being of individuals. He emphasizes the need for a holistic and ecological approach to farming, one that respects the interconnectedness of all living beings and embraces sustainable practices.

"The Unsettling of America" challenges readers to reconsider their relationship with the land and to recognize the profound impact of our agricultural choices on our health, communities, and the future of our planet. It serves as a call to action for individuals, policymakers, and societies to prioritize the regeneration of the land, the preservation of local economies, and the cultivation of a deep, sustainable connection to the places we call home.

Explore More Books

See All
Influence
Beating The Street
Success
She Said
Facing Love Addiction
What It Takes
Necessary Dreams
Bet The Farm
The Messy Middle
The Holy Grail of Investing
The Power of Myth
The Parasitic Mind
The Upanishads
Artificial Intelligence
Focus
Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track
Peak
The Persian Expedition
The Fall
To Sell is Human
Expert Political Judgement
The Bottomless Well
The Mathematics of Politics
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Omnivore's Dilemma
One Simple Idea
How To Turn Down A Billion Dollars
At Home in the Universe
Energy Transitions
Growth IQ
Distant Force
Information
Intellectual Life in the Middle Ages
Spiritual Enlightenment, the Damnedest Thing
Modern Times
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Way of Kings
The Grid
The Cost Disease
The Sun Also Rises
The Better Angels of our Nature
Built from Scratch
The Inevitable
Pandaemonium
Once a Warrior
Technofeudalism
Understanding Comics
The Search
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
The Long Tail
The History of the Future
Bad Therapy
Have Space Suit - Will Travel
Game of Thorns
Pebbles of Perception
The Cultural Cold War
Rebooting AI
The Tao of Charlie Munger
Patient Capital
Xi Jinping: The Governance of China
How To Avoid a Climate Disaster
The Beak of the Finch
The Art of  Scientific Investigation
The Company
The PayPal Wars
Elvis Cole Series
Human Compatible
Monsoon
So Good They Can't Ignore You
A Pattern Language
Change.edu
Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish
Why Buy Bitcoin
Knowledge and Decisions
Eisenhower
1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die
Heaven on Earth
The Ancient City
Good To Great
Tap Dancing to Work
Being With Dying
Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?
Daemon
Don't Feed the Monkey Mind
The Sleepwalkers
Impro
Diocletian and the Roman Recovery
Cryptonomicon
The Count of Monte Cristo
Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
Adaptive Markets
Mastering The Market Cycle
The Book of Life
No Filter
Inside the Rise of HBO
Discourses on Livy
The Lean Startup
Son of the Morning Star
The Purple Cow
Wild Swans