Payne Hollow, Life on the Fringe of Society [Paperback]

Harlan Hubbard (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0917788664 | ISBN-13: 978-0917788666 | Publication Date: April 1, 1997

Nonfiction. Harlan Hubbard's PAYNE HOLLOW: LIFE ON THE FRINGE OF SOCIETY provides an account of a self-made alternative lifestyle in early 1950's America. Anna and Harlan Hubbard, refusing to adopt the industrial positioning provided, built a simple home at Payne Hollow and documented their "basic relationship of need to fulfillment within the carefully circumscribed wholeness of [their] honest, sensitive, extraordinary lives"--Edward Lueders. PAYNE HOLLOW creates its own self-referential world written as "a painter's prose" that fills its environment with a Thoreau-esque "ecstasy...expressed with sober simplicity"--The Louisville Courier-Journal.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...curiously in tune with the ideals of our young environmentalists, yet practical and competent....As pretty a little book as I have seen in years....
Barry Bingham, Sr., Louisville Courier Journal --Louisville Courier Journal --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Gnomon Press (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0917788664
• ISBN-13: 978-0917788666
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a story of simple life with the land, February 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Payne Hollow, Life on the Fringe of Society (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book about life outside of normal hustle and bustle of modern life. Harlan and his wife, Anna, lived in Payne Hollow, and spent their time living from the land and with the land. They built their home, tended their garden, fished the river, and lived their lives there. It is in some ways a beautiful love story that reminded me of what it would be like to be a castaway on a desert island. But in this case, one is castaway in the hills of Kentucky, on the Ohio river.

The book is really a journal of their lives there, and when reading it, one feels how simple yet full lives their lives were. From Harlan's rising early in the winter mornings to tend the goats, to the early passages about working by lantern light on simple tasks, to the way he wrote about the seasonal rhythms, I was taken with their story. I found that it was a tender book to read, and I found that the way they lived was so much more than the suburbanites. Harsher, perhaps, but more. The book has some sketches by Harlan, and some woodcuts. A great story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Payne Hollow, December 16, 2008

By 

Captain Success (Louisville, KY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Payne Hollow, Life on the Fringe of Society (Paperback)

Harlan Hubbard continues his life story from Shantyboat. In Payne Hollow, you will read of 30 plus years of living by his own methods and means. This is Hubbard's version of Thoreau's Walden. A great book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On the Fringe is a lot of work., October 31, 2010

By 

Squibob - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Payne Hollow, Life on the Fringe of Society (Paperback)

This is an excellent book. It is very accurate as to how many people lived at that time. It should be read by anyone that is thinking about adopting a self sufficient life style.

Mr. Hubbard is a "wordsmith" and writes in an excellent manner with vivid descriptions and a little philosophy thrown in.

You might also want to read "Shantyboat Journal," a history of their trip down the Ohio and the Mississippi in a shantyboat of thier own design and building.