Customer Reviews

Herds and Hermits: America's Lone Wolves and Submissive Sheep

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As a sometime artist and writer, I was initially fascinated by the book's title. For years I haven't felt "popular" among fellow humans: I paint alone, write alone, walk in the woods alone, and avoid the chitchat of clubs and organizations. And now, finally, a book affirming the loner-isolate! Unlike the bulk of non-fiction I've perused, this one presents its remarkable premise early on and supports it with snippets from two centuries of situations and lives, primarily gifted and accomplished in literary authorship in spite of (or because of) their preference to listen to their own thoughts. I was entertained and amused as well as relieved! This triumph of contrariety possesses exraordinary erudition and brilliant command of our abused language. It is one of the most readable and personally informative works of non-fiction I've ever read and it should survive decades, if not centuries, for its wisdom.

Of Herds and Hermit is a densely-researched, extraordinarily erudite, witty celebration of marginalized individuality especially as it affects America's sometimes happily alienated intellectuals. Terry Reed takes dead aim at America's herds of human sheep who slavishly salute any flag they can raise, join any club they can find. The book is deliciously engrossing, informative, provocative, liberating and extremely amusing. It will deservedly be with us for a long time. Every library should own a copy or two; every civilized American should read it.

Let's just get this out of the way right at the top. I've never read a book more in need of a proofreader.

Unlike others who have read this book, I find little in the way of a thesis here. "[T]his study argues that direction taken from within is overwhelmingly to be preferred over messages that originate from without." is pretty weak, and not a little "well, duh." This book seems more a compendium of evidence in search of a argument. Backwards, but whatever.

The first chapter is for English majors only. All others could safely skip this part. A brief explication on the major early writers of American fiction reveals that some were actually loners. Why, imagine that! But this was certainly not always the case. The point? Again, this is sort of a scattershot approach to the subject of loner-ism. The author has gathered everything he could find on the subject and compiled it for you to suss out to your own satisfaction - or not, he seems not to care a whole lot.

Which brings us to the author's attitude. Terry Reed seems a rather angry, mean-spirited chap. And okay, sure, I will accept that as a not illegitimate stance for an author to take. Hey, it is his book. But his constant use of the [sic] to note every inconsequential, incorrectly used word (or punctuation mark?!) in his quoted material, and his snide comments ("Oh, we like this.") inserted into his quotes become a bit grating after a while. It is all rather too pissy, and not a little juvenile. I find it undercuts the author's credibility. But there again, who needs credibility if you have no argument? And if I remain unconvinced, Reed ultimately could not care less anyway.

And then there is this:
Loner-intellectuals are, as a rule, sufficiently equipped to function without anyone except professionals such as accountants, physicians, attorneys and so forth. The rest they can handle themselves. Politically, for example, the most likely place to hide, if any, is the 37-year old Libertarian Party....

Other than as padding for this too thin volume, I cannot conceive of why Reed would include two pages on the Libertarian Party. It seems a tenuous connection at best. The author assiduously avoids an outright endorsement, but certainly there is more than a hint of Libertarian agitprop in the book, never quite sticking its ugly head far enough above the surface to get a clear shot off.

But then the author segues into a discussion of ivory towers (academia), which is probably coincidental, but nonetheless appropriate for a political philosophy that has only ever flourished, and could only ever be taken seriously, in such settings. As Gabriel Winant has said, "Libertarianism is a worldview that prospers only so long as nobody tries it, and is too unreflective and self-absorbed to realize this." The term loner-intellectual libertarian seems to set the bar rather low in the intellect department.

This is a strange little book. I found a little to like, but not a lot to love here. And I am a loner myself. Believe me, I get it. This book, while it is certainly not for everyone, and there is much to disagree with, loners will find a worthwhile read. It is an uneven effort, but the last chapter alone is probably worth the price of admission (if you, as I, got it from the library). I must disagree, however, that "in the end, it is the hermits who seize the confidence and the courage. In the end the hermits prevail." Hermits seize nothing, hermits by definition retreat. Undoubtedly, to build great Randian monuments (or write delusional books) to their own individual greatness, and typos be damned. Proofing, after all, is for lesser mortals.