Home Economics [Paperback]

Wendell Berry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1987 | ISBN-10: 0865472750 | ISBN-13: 978-0865472754

“My work has been motivated,” Wendell Berry has written, “by a desire to make myself responsibly at home in this world and in my native and chosen place.” In Home Economics, a collection of fourteen essays, Berry explores this process and continues to discuss what it means to make oneself “responsibly at home.”

His title reminds us that the very root of economics is stewardship, household management. To paraphrase Confucius, a healthy planet is made up of healthy nations that are simply healthy communities sharing common ground, and communities are gatherings of households. A measure of the health of the planet is economics—the health of its households. Any process of destruction or healing must begin at home. Berry speaks of the necessary coherence of the “Great Economy,” as he argues for clarity in our lives, our conceptions, and our communications. To live is not to pass time, but to spend time.

Whether as critic or as champion, Wendell Berry offers careful insights into our personal and national situation in a prose that is ringing and clear.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Novelist and poet Berry offers an eclectic group of essays on subjects ranging from economics and education to agriculture and the feminist movement. In "Six Agricultural Fallacies," for example, he argues in his typically individualistic way, that agriculture cannot be considered an industry because industry centers on machinery, which is not alive, while agriculture is a matter of living and breathing organisms. He also maintains that a factory may break down and machinery will fall into disrepair, but that soil, when properly used, will never "wear out." Elsewhere he praises the art of working by hand. Noting that he is not an authority on many of his subjects, he gives his opinions nonetheless, which help make this collection quirky and amusing.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Berry, poet, essayist, novelist, and Kentucky farmer, writes insightfully about the passing of community and farm life, the inherent value of hand labor and well-made objects, the uses of wild lands, the decadence of the university, and, especially, the sacred economic order of nature, to which human economies must necessarily be subordinate. Berry's genius for drawing profound lessons from everyday observations shines forth in these powerful essays. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries. Judith Eannarino, George Washington Univ. Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: North Point Press (June 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865472750
• ISBN-13: 978-0865472754
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #420,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book by an Important Man, April 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Home Economics (Paperback)

Mr. Berry, in engaging with the pressing issues and institutions of our day--from higher education to national security to gender relations to the perception of manual labor--introduces a new vocabulary for improving our country and our world. Instead of "progress" and "movement," Mr. Berry suggests "community" and "loyalty." These notions, and the overarching theme of commitment to place, inform all fourteen insightful essays. Mr. Berry is passionate and articulate, and his book will, at least, encourage debate, if not inspire real and lasting change in the way that Americans deal with their environment, their neighbors, and themselves.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant essays, June 12, 2006

By 

John McAndrew (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Home Economics (Paperback)

The first essay, "Letter to Wes Jackson", is the reason I recommend this book so highly to anyone who appreciates thoughtful, elegant essays. In this essay Berry asks the rhetorical question: is randomness a verifiable condition, or evidence of the limits of our ability to order things? He chooses the latter option, and then spins out the ramifications of that choice in terms of religion and science and the way we live with or abuse the world - all in three revelatory pages. The rest of the book, while not (to me) the powerful revelation that the first essay was, contains some of the finest, most deeply-considered writing you will find in essay form from any writer of any period. Berry is one of the best.

My recommendation is to buy two copies: one to hoard, and one to loan.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good though not his best..., September 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Home Economics (Paperback)

I have read (and continue to re-read) several of WB's books. i enjoyed The Irish Journal tremendously and would be interested in any additional travel writing that this man may have to offer. The other essays are well-written though sometimes ringing a little off compared to the rock solid writing of some of his other essay material. Also, The reviewer who chastised WB for a lack of economic knowledge should understand that WB is not speaking in the manner of Keynes or Galbraith but in a manner closer to home...i.e. the title.