The Far Side of Eden: New Money, Old Land, and the Battle for Napa Valley [Audiobook] [Hardcover]

James Conaway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 24, 2002

James Conaway picks up the story begun a decade ago in his earlier book about Napa Valley, the premier American wine country and a place synonymous with the good life. By now the struggle over the valley’s future has grown sharper and its success more glaring. Awash in dollars generated by the boom economy of the 1990s and the social ambitions it inspired, Napa is beset by too much of a good thing: new arrivals determined to have a vineyard of their own despite the fact that available land is running out, cult-wine producers in thrall to fabulously expensive “rocket juice” (cabernet sauvignon) that few locals can afford, established families wishing to hold on to the old ways, and camp followers caught up in the glamour of it all.
What has transformed a natural and agricultural beauty spot into a coveted global destination has left inevitable scars, and a small, impassioned band of environmentalists determine to resist further change. Alarmed by the wholesale felling of trees to make way for vines, the diminishment of the Napa River, and the decline in the health of the watershed, they strike back in a way rivets the valley and strongly divides the valley between those in favor of unbridled economic development and those insisting on limits.
Written by the author the New York Times credits with “a Saroyan-like sense of humor and and Balzac-like eye for detail,” The Far Side of Eden takes us to the frontlines of America’s ongoing conflicts about money, land, and power to tell a tale that has ramifications for us all.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"If Napa Valley can't be saved, no place can," says the county planner, and Conaway's second volume on one of the wealthiest enclaves in America echoes this sentiment, picking up where his first (Napa: The Story of an American Eden) left off, with some overlap. Beautiful Napa in the 1990s is threatened by McMansions, by the blindness of "lucky spermers," (like the Mondavi heirs) and by the nouveau riche desire for boutique wineries with "rocket juice" (cabernet). The first third of the book describes the super-rich with incredulity: Francis Ford Coppola purchased the former Inglenook winery in the mid-1990s and outfitted it with the desk from The Godfather, movie memorabilia and screens for a "multimedia tasting experience." The Sweeneys, owners of Embassy Suites, dynamited to build their five-bedroom house (complete with feng shui) on a visible hillside. They don't flinch when locals complain. The center of the book is the Sierra Club's suit against Jayson Pahlmeyer (among others), whose now-cult wine appeared in the movie Disclosure, for clearing a hillside and violating the California Environmental Quality Act. The prose is often portentous and heavy on description; even minor characters are given full bios. Conaway uses a semifictional style to get into the characters' heads ("Hugh was pulled at by conflicting emotions"), while the author remains invisible, although his preferences are obvious. This is a who's who for anyone in the valley, a must-read for anyone in the business, and will be of interest to those invested in the often clashing interests of agriculture and the environment.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Conaway, the author of nine books and a contributor to Smithsonian and National Geographic Traveler, explored the subject of the Napa Valley a decade ago in his best-selling Napa: The Story of an American Eden. In his latest book, he carefully examines the invasion of Napa in the 1990s by the nouveaux riches who view vineyards as status symbols to be exploited for their social value. In an accessible style, Conaway offers an insider's view and shows how these newcomers are increasingly denuding the land in attempts to create vanity-label wines. Environmentalists and established valley dwellers are fighting the exploitation, but major damage has already been done in the form of polluted rivers and eroded hillsides. As Conaway rightfully concludes, Napa may never recover from the ravages wrought by the greed of the Silicon Valley wonder boys, the movie producers, and the other absentee landlords who now own much of the valley. This important and timely exploration of the ramifications of the unbridled power of the rich to do whatever they wish with America's land is highly recommended for all libraries.
Mary V. Welk, Chicago
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; F edition (October 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618067396
• ISBN-13: 978-0618067398
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,295,116 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James (Jim) Conaway grew up in Memphis but lived in Europe for several years before moving to Washington, D.C. A former Wallace Stegner fellow at Stanford University, he's the author of two novels and nine books of non-fiction, the most recent being "Vanishing America: In Pursuit of Our Elusive Landscapes", described by writer Tracy Kidder as "an enthralling, lovely tribute to a lot of what is precious in America."
His previous book, "The Far Side of Eden", was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year in 2002 and a sequel to his best-selling "Napa: The Story of an American Eden", described in the New York Times Book Review as "an important story, emblematic of our time."
His other books include the memoir, "Memphis Afternoons", and "The Kingdom in the Country", a personal journey in a van through the public lands of the American West and described by Stegner as "a very lively book... He got into places and activities that most westerners never even get close to." Author Jim Harrison called it "a wonderful, well-considered evocation of the New West."
Jim's first novel, "The Big Easy", is based on his experiences as a police reporter in New Orleans; his second novel, "World's End", is a Louisiana coastal saga ofr politics and crime described as "a combination of All the King's Men" and "The Godfather." He has just completed a new novel set in California.
Jim has written for many magazines, including The New York Times Magazine, Atlantic, Harper's, The New Republic, Gourmet, Smithsonian, and National Geographic Traveler. He divides his time between piedmont Virginia and Washington.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gulp This, October 2, 2002

By 

J. S. Lang (on the Chester River) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Far Side of Eden: New Money, Old Land, and the Battle for Napa Valley (Hardcover)

Conaway's first book on the topic, "Napa, the Story of an American Eden," held a mirror to a beautiful place and the wonders of American winemaking. This sequel goes through the looking glass into a world of greed and self absorption, where a monoculture rapes land, trophy homes blight ridgetops, egos swell and rot like grapes too long on the vine.
Finely reported, elegantly written, "The Far Side of Eden" would be depressing -- if the tale weren't told with such wit and good humor. The hubris of winemakers like Pahlmeyer and Staglin and Copolla emerge as hilarious, the self-righteousness of both the winos and the ecos as ridiculous.
It's quite sad, and hugely funny.
I think this is an important book. It spotlights Napa, but it could be anywhere in America where riches come too fast and too much and the result is look-at-me-look-at-me development.
Read it slow, and let it breathe, it's a treat.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some interesting points, but heavily biased, January 10, 2003

By 

Adlai Van Houten (Barstow, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Far Side of Eden: New Money, Old Land, and the Battle for Napa Valley (Hardcover)

As a former Napa vinter, I eagerly looked forward to reading Conway's excursion into my home county. While there are interesting ideas in the book, they lurk beneath the soil like potatoes, never springing forth to see the light of day. Many of my neighbors (and, I should add, close friends) are presented in this book as gross parodies; this, I suppose, might be expected from an outsider to the region, but I had a difficult time getting past these rough characterizations.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes the Truth Hurts, August 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Far Side of Eden: New Money, Old Land, and the Battle for Napa Valley (Hardcover)

As a Napa resident and former winemaker, I can say that this book truly pulls back the curtains to expose the overinflated egos that are rapidly transforming our valley into just another trendy, overpriced tourist trap.

It is a much more entertaining and accurate read than Kolpan's Sense of Place which basically parrots Coppola's publicity agent's "approved" history. This is a must have book for anyone interested in what goes on behind the scenes in the Napa Valley.