Customer Reviews

The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culture

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The Simple Life: Plain Living And High Thinking In American Culture by David E. Shi (President and Professor of History, Furman University) is a candid, informative, scholarly examination throughout American social history of the drive to simplify one's life and find meaning by the means of deliberately giving up excess material vanity, as embodied in the writings and lifestyles of Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, Jimmy Carter, and others. Individual chapters discuss the simple life concept from the Puritan, Quaker, Republican, and other points of view, and the importance and value this way of thought, behavior, and culture retained even in today's increasingly fast-paced electronic world. A thoughtful book, filled with carefully assessed observations, The Simple Life is strongly recommended reading for anyone contemplating simplification of their personal lifestyles and circumstances as a means of improving the quality of their lives and themselves.

This is the best book I have ever read on simple living. The writer not only knows his history, but he can write. I especially liked the chapter on Emersonian views of simple living.

Richard J. Lorenz

On my bookself sits a number of volumes on voluntary simplicity. This one is simply one of the best. It is so good in fact that I am considering giving the other books away. In this history, the author chronicles three centuries of simplicty in America.

I was one of the few (maybe the only one) that reviewed this book when it was in hardback version. Then, and now, I'll say this. I have read almost everything on the Simple Life, on the esp. American versions of same, and frankly, no book, no tens of books, are better than this one.

Since you can buy it used pretty cheaply, do so. You will never forget this book.

Then, as now, I esp. liked the details of the Simple and Plain living philosophies of the Emersonian era, along with the revolutionary era.

Ok, some specifics. It goes by chapter through different stages of America, from the revolution (this is from memory) through the Carter era (again, if I remember correctly). It gives dispassionate detail and is very well written. The section of David Bok (the editor of the Ladies Home Journal (if I recall correctly) was also interesting.

I don't know why this guy (David E. Shi) isn't more well known.

Buy the book.

Richard J. Lorenz

An informative book on the ideals of living simply. Many refer to different religions look at living simply with Gods direction. Good information if you are looking to simplfy your life.

Remember that riveting scene in the original Wall Street movie when Bud finally asks Gekko, "How much is enough"? David Shi's The Simple Life doesn't attempt a definitive answer to that question--instead it presents a fascinating overview of how Americans have for centuries struggled to address it. From Puritans to Transcendentalists to anxiety-ridden modern consumers, Shi documents and analyzes conflicting philosophies of what the "good life" should mean for Americans. Is it access to unlimited personal and national material wealth? Or is it the pursuit of "wealth" of another kind--personal integrity, growth of mind and spirit, service and concern for the "commonweal"? I especially appreciate Shi's skill in bringing the various "characters" in this grand debate to life, including Winthrop, Jefferson, Emerson, Carnegie, Carter, Reagan, and many more. It's a truly epic and engaging story of personal and national struggle to define what it means to be American. In our modern advertising-saturated culture, where personal worth often seems reduced to who we are as consumers, The Simple Life provides a provocative and essential context for the choices Americans have made in getting to this point--and for the choices now to be made on where to go from here.