A native hill

by Wendell Berry

38 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1976

About the author

Wendell Berry is a conservationist, farmer, essayist, novelist, professor of English and poet. He was born August 5, 1934 in Henry County, Kentucky where he now lives on a farm. The New York Times has called Berry the "prophet of rural America."

Reviews

[Ariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m reading this as part of a compilation, but it’s so good I felt it deserved its own ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Maybe sometime I’m feeling thoughtful, I’ll come back and write a proper review. For now, I just have to say it’s deeply refreshing to know that somebody as far back as 1968 had such a deep sense of not only ecology, but the interrelationship of humans and history and oppression and I’ll dare say even mysticism tangled up within the land itself. I’ll also dare say that Wendell Berry – without perhaps putting it into words – is a true animist, not only in feeling, but in actual relating (deeply) with the more-than-human world. Or as some would call it, the world.

[Chrendt · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Against the Machine” was the angsty introduction to this field of thought that helped me find this author but I’m beginning to think Wendell is more articulate and graceful than Kingsworth. He focuses less on frustrated and alarmist angst and rather on personal experience and positive notes that end up being even more salient.

Two of my greatest influences Lewis and Tolkien are certainly not known widely as great anti-industrialist writers or agrarianists, but rather as “creative eccentrics” and “history professors” but through the modern lens I feel like they have subtly primed me through my life to really appreciate the likes of this book.