“A compelling history of one of the government’s most radical, if largely forgotten, domestic programs. . . . Maloney has managed to finely balance the duties of the historian with the role of storyteller. Instead of being bogged down by the (impeccable) research that provides the book with so much valuable detail, he uses this plethora of information to strong effect, highlighting the human stories and the bigger picture impact that Arthurdale had on both the area and the country, so that the reader feels less like he is reading an economic history than a fascinating story with a profound historical lesson. The writing has a smoothness and ease that evades most books of similar historical depth. . . Perhaps even more importantly, the book reveals a great sympathy and understanding for the impoverished people who signed up to live in a government-funded town. . . By sticking to the astonishing historical record, Back To The Land avoids the pitfalls that plague the ideologues who too often direct the national debate. Ultimately, what makes the book so successful is that the story is able to speak for itself.”
— The Brooklyn Rail “Capably reveals the certain costs of central planning, thus making Back to the Land an essential story for the political class to understand better. As for the many who view government spending as an economic good in its own right, Maloney's tale of the costly creation of Arthurdale, West Virginia (a town built by the federal government as a model for the nation) will surely give them pause. . . Back to the Land is an interesting book, and even better it's an important one for showing up close the bungling ways of government officials. . . skillfully reminds us why we shouldn't entrust our lives or treasure to those who work in government.”
— Real Clear Politics
“Enlightening, well-written, and very timely book. . . . In the year 2006, the mayor of the town of Tal Afar, Iraq, chastised the government that invaded his country — the government of FDR's heirs — by stating, "What you are doing is an experiment, and it isn't right to experiment on people." No it is not, which makes books like this one so important. Those who do not know and understand history are condemned to repeat it. . . Books like Maloney's that are factually accurate, economically consistent, and engagingly written can help to reverse this disturbing trend.
—Ludwig von Mises Institute
While much of what has been written about the New Deal takes a bird's-eye view of the major trends and ideas that animated it, surprisingly little has been devoted to how those ideas played out in the lives of the people most immediately affected. Weaving firsthand accounts of those who lived through it with expert historical analysis, Back to the Land offers a uniquely intimate portrait of Arthurdale, West Virginia, one of the most ambitious of the many New Deal projects and, arguably, the most dramatic social engineering experiment ever undertaken in the United States.
Nestled among the Appalachian foothills of northern West Virginia's coal country, Arthurdale was the pet project of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who, along with a group of idealists, was inspired by a mish-mash of foreign and homegrown collectivist ideals, all wrapped together under a "back-to-the-land" mania. The culmination of a long-cherished dream for population resettlement held by FDR and the circle of like-minded men he had gathered about him, the town was more a laboratory for testing progressive theories of government than an attempt to ameliorate the plight of those caught in the maelstrom of the Great Depression. Beset by abysmally poor planning, gargantuan cost overruns, and ideological infighting among its patrons, the Arthurdale experiment was doomed to failure from its inception.
While it was once the object of intense popular fascination, Arthurdale, designed to be the incubator of a "New Man," is now remembered only by a few historians and theorists, among whom opinions vary as to what it represented. For some it was, at best, a well-intentioned but terribly ill-conceived attempt to improve the lives of the destitute while to others, it was the embodiment of a political power grab that irrevocably changed America's social and political landscape.
No matter which side of the debate one falls on, it is fair to say that Back to the Land tells a fascinating story of the profound effect that the New Deal's economic policies had on the lives of people—both then and now.
From the Back Cover
"To read of America before the New Deal is not so much to read of another time, but of another country altogether. Arthurdale was the tipping point—every American born after its birth knows nothing of life in a Republic."
—From the Introduction"Maloney shines a bright light on the darkest fallacy of the 1930s. To know the New Deal, read this."
—Amity Shlaes, author, The Forgotten Man, and Senior Fellow in Economic History, Council on Foreign Relations
"F. A. Hayek argued in the abstract that the success of socialism came from its utopian vision. C. J. Maloney articulately details one real-world example of how the centrally planned attempt to implement such a vision failed, but the decentralized efforts of common people succeeded in overcoming the obstacles laid in their path."
—Alexander McCobin, President, Students For Liberty
"I always pay attention to C. J. Maloney. He understands economics, the financial system, and our history. And he can write. Read this book."
—Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr., Chairman, Ludwig von Mises Institute
"In lively and engaging prose, C. J. Maloney skillfully recounts the ill-fated history of the most famous of the New Deal's 'planned communities.' Although Back to the Land reveals the waste, hubris, and tragic clueless-ness of Arthurdale's federal patrons, including none other than Eleanor Roosevelt, Maloney never forgets the human element. He paints a vivid portrait of the ordinary men and women who took part in this 'experiment.'This is a book that will both entertain and inform . . . a timeless and nuanced case study about the unintended consequences of top-down social engineering."
—David Beito, Professor of History, University of Alabama; author of Black Maverick: T. R. M. Howard's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power
"Maloney combines extensive research with solid economics to present an astonishing story of FDR's attempt to design a new town from the top down. This government effort to create 'a human experiment station'—in the non-ironic description of Eleanor Roosevelt—predictably yielded a massive waste of tax dollars and a tragic loss of human liberty."
—Robert P. Murphy, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal
About the Author
C. J. Maloney lives and works in New York City. A graduate of NYU's Stern School of Business, he has contributed writings on economics, history, and politics to, among others, RealClearMarkets.com, Mises.org, LewRockwell.com, Antiwar.com, DailyKos.com, Liberty magazine, and blogs for GMU's Liberty & Power. He has spoken before numerous groups, including the NYC Campaign for Liberty, the Manhattan Libertarian Party, and Ivy League Alliance/Students For Liberty at Columbia University.
