The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today's America

by Mark Sundeen

“An in-depth and compelling account of diverse Americans living off the grid.” —Los Angeles Times

The radical search for the simple life in today’s America.

On a frigid April night, a classically trained opera singer, five months pregnant, and her husband, a former marine biologist, disembark an Amtrak train in La Plata, Missouri, assemble two bikes, and pedal off into the night, bound for a homestead they've purchased, sight unseen. Meanwhile, a horticulturist, heir to the Great Migration that brought masses of African Americans to Detroit, and her husband, a product of the white flight from it, have turned to urban farming to revitalize the blighted city they both love. And near Missoula, Montana, a couple who have been at the forefront of organic farming for decades navigate what it means to live and raise a family ethically.   

A work of immersive journalism steeped in a distinctively American social history and sparked by a personal quest, The Unsettlers traces the search for the simple life through the stories of these new pioneers and what inspired each of them to look for -- or create -- a better existence. Captivating and clear-eyed, it dares us to imagine what a sustainable, ethical, authentic future might actually look like.

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment, Food, Nature, Sociology, Audiobook, History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 10, 2017

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that can inspire you to change your life.

Mark Sundeen wanted a simpler life, one that was environmentally conscious, meaningful, and freed from corporate trappings. So, like anyone who is starting on a quest, he set out to find some people who could help him.

I decided to go find Americans leading lives of radical simplicity. Yet it wasn't just a matter of going without electricity. The real power matrix was the economy. I'd grown skeptical of government, universities, even the nonprofits that I had long thought held the solutions to our problems. They seemed too dependent on the organized money that they professed to fight, and their personnel often seemed especially mirthless and desk-bound.

I wanted to see if living along lines of radical simplicity brought a deeper, truer relationship to land, livelihood, economy and spirit. I wanted to learn the old-fashioned concept of household, a meaningful mix of work, family and home. How far might we go in rejecting the compromises of contemporary life — and what did we gain or sacrifice? What I wanted to learn was how to lead a good life.

Sundeen tracked down and spent time with several families around the country, trying to learn how to create such a life. The first section of the book follows a family in northern Missouri that started an "intentional community." They bought an old Amish farm and were able to keep it almost entirely off the grid (some county water was needed). Visitors come and can take workshops while helping on the farm. The middle part of the book followed a couple in Detroit who created an urban farm from abandoned lots and have managed to make a living off it. And finally we meet a family in Montana that has been farming and living a simpler life for decades.

When these people say they want to live "a simpler life,"they don't mean just decluttering and not buying expensive gadgets, although that's certainly part of it. Some folks object to paying taxes that support wars, so they deliberately keep their earnings low. Others are worried about energy consumption, so they prefer to bicycle or take public transportation. (One of the people in the book refuses to get inside a car unless there's a medical emergency.) All of them are worried about the chemicals and pesticides used in commercial food, and have chosen to invest a lot of time and energy in growing their own food. It's not an easy life, as many of them have said, but it's more rewarding.

I admired the people in this book for their vision and endeavors, and while I don't plan on starting an urban farm, I can do a better job of supporting local farmers and reducing my energy consumption. In short, I loved this book and I'm excited to share it with my friends. Read it, pass it on, and maybe all together we can make a positive difference.

Favorite Quotes
"The danger of civilization, of course, is that you will piss away your life on nonsense." — Jim Harrison

"Simplicity was both an aesthetic and an act of dissent ... If one wanted to live nonviolently, he could not use products that were produced through the violence of coercion and exploitation. To wear cotton garments produced by slaves was no different from owning and abusing a slave. The person filling his tank with gasoline was in the same ethical position as the corporation clear-cutting the Amazon and displacing Indians."

"[W]e were at a point in history similar to that in the mid-nineteenth century when we were enmeshed in, and dependent on, an unjust system. Then it was slavery and colonialism; now it was global capitalism, the industrial economy, commercial civilization — whatever you wanted to call it ... Virtually every product we touch comes from the industrial economy. Rail as we might against fracking and wars that protect our oil supply, we support those things with our gas furnaces, cars and taxes. Grieve as we might over the clear-cutting of the Amazon and the extinction of the polar bear, we are complicit, governed by appetites for beef and electricity heretofore undreamed of in the history of mankind. Grumble as we might about Wall Street felons, we keep the banks in business by lending them our money, paying their interest on mortgages and credit cards, and amassing our savings in their IRAs and money-market accounts. Protest as we might about police killing unarmed black teenagers, white people have created segregated ghettoes by fleeing to 'safe neighborhoods' where the public schools are good. As with other radical experiments, the [Possibility Alliance in Missouri] tried to find a balance between building a new world and helping to save the existing one."

"I used to think education was the way to change society ... Now I think it's the local food movement."

[When a Montana woman sees her teenage kids lounging and fiddling with a gadget]
"Is this contributing to truth, beauty, and justice? Is this contributing to your self-improvement? If not, put the fucking thing away. Now."

[Kelly]

There's the whole thing about how annoying Sundeen's personal stories are among the ones he's really trying to tell, but the real irritating part of the book comes when there's a whole discussion about white flight and how Detroit got so hurt as a result....and the bulk of the book is about a white dude seeing other white people who are going "back to the land" and "off grid."

In other words, there's not a lot of self-reflection going on. Though Sundeen does offer us the beautiful insight about how his deepest desire was to cheat on his wife. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That all said, the only part that is worth reading here is the Detroit section, which is by far the one that deserved more page time. It's not about going off grid. It's about working right where the people living there are.

A good and easy enough hate-read for those who can't get enough of the idea of unsettling and/or tiny living, etc.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm.....

Okay, so Mark Sundeen went "in search of the good life," but what he really did is find a few couples with some really extreme ideas/lifestyles and whine a whole bunch about his own life. And yet, I still kind of liked this book.

Couple #1 are misleadingly billed as a "classically trained opera singer" and "former marine biologist." Really these people are #&$@ing crazy Portland area hipsters who haven't really held down any kind of normal job, but instead have traveled across the country by bicycle dressed as a super hero (him), given away an inheritance (also him), and traveled to France on a whim to learn to make goat cheese (both of them on her whim). Can you tell I wasn't really enamored of this couple? And, yet, I couldn't stop reading about them. I mean, this is the stuff upon which Portlandia is based. These are real people. Real people who decide to never ride in a car again (him), who buy an "Amish farmstead" in Misery, sorry, Missouri, sight unseen with no running water (c'mon, even the Amish have running water!), and then can't understand why no one else wants to join them.

Couple #2, building a farm in the crumbling remains of Detroit, were much more sympathetic, because they are actually living in the real world. (In truth, their world is a little more real than I'd like to get.) This was, by far, the most interesting section. Instead of trying to set a shining example in the middle of nowhere, these people are trying to make a legitimate difference in the middle of the worst urban disaster in Norte Americano. (The wife is also the only non-white person in the whole darn book.)

Couple #3 would probably smack some sense into Couple #1, if ever they all should meet. Homesteading in Montana since the 1980s, they've raised three children and helped usher in the locavore movement, but they (especially the wife) don't seem to be enjoying "the good life" very much.

Tangled in with all of these stories is that of the author, who practices a brand of absolute truth that I find painful. I don't need to know that he took a break from buying organic, free-trade, wild-caught tofu to rip fried chicken off the bone with his teeth. I don't need to know that his greatest desire was to cheat on his wife before the honeymoon period was even over. His parents took out a second mortgage to finance his ivy league education. How special. He and his wife (to whom he apparently has stayed faithful) can winter in Mexico or Thailand, instead of Montana. Fantastic. While he's a good writer, I would have enjoyed this book more if he had been in it less.

I'm not sure what I expected from this book, but I didn't quite get it.

[Keith Akers · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Unsettlers is an unsettling book. The author explores his subjects — three couples each pursuing their “simple living” dream in quite different ways — with an entertaining, narrative-style journalism. The book is unsettling because of the contrasts and contradictions in how each couple, and the author, approach the problem of simple living. They all make compromises in different ways. This leaves the reader, at the end, with a sense of bewilderment. What exactly are we, as potential followers of the simple life, supposed to take away from all this?

Well, it’s not clear, and to a certain extent that’s the point. Simple living is complicated. The Missouri couple are the purest in intention and practice, rejecting much of industrial civilization’s products to live what is essentially a farming life from a century or two ago. The exception proves the rule: Sarah accepts a ride to the hospital when she goes into labor with her first child. They have freedom in exchange for poverty. They also have almost no followers, though many outsiders come to listen to them. The Detroit couple is enmeshed in civilization but tries to re-establish contact with the soil by farming the vacant lots. They have freedom in exchange for the constant tension of violence from humans and indifference or hostility from the city. The Montana couple is somewhere in between, trying to set up a local farming enterprise before “locavore” became a phenomenon, again with a mixture of acceptance of civilization plus rejection of much of its fruits.

There are two unexplored directions the book could have taken and didn’t. The first is to explore why this is. Why is simple living complicated? Shouldn’t it be an easy thing to scale back, and if not, why not? (Hint: it has something to do with infrastructure.)

The second direction is to look at vegetarianism and population. Get a clue, guys! There are too many people on the planet and there are too many cows! In fact, biomass-wise, there’s more of our livestock than there is of us, and most of the land used by humans is for their livestock. Humans and their livestock are over 95% of the megafauna biomass on earth. And yet what has the author presented us with? Three couples all of whom choose to reproduce. The earnestness with which they pursue children is sometimes painful to watch. The Montana couple suffers eight miscarriages before successfully giving birth. And the author has given us three couples all of whom choose to kill and eat animals, some with painful deliberateness. The Montana couple kills a llama because it isn’t behaving properly.

This is excruciating to read because the author is surrounded by vegetarian advocates whom he studiously ignores. At one point in the book it is mentioned that the author’s wife is (or was at some point) a vegetarian — a point which he never returns to. And at the end, he mentions a number of books which influenced the way he thought. One of them is a book about Gandhi (who was a vegetarian advocate), two of them are books by people from the Farm in Tennessee (which was originally all-vegetarian), and another was a book by Helen and Scott Nearing (who were vegetarians and founders of the North American Vegetarian Society).

So anyway, this is a pretty good book once you wrap your brain around the fact that neither he nor the people he interviews are going to address the key problems responsible for the environmental crisis — livestock and human overpopulation.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Sundeen wrote one of my favorite books of all time, Car Camping. I felt like I was one of the first to discover a new Kerouac when I read that book. But then he didn't go and write anything that I wanted him to after that. But the thing is, I've absolutely loved everything I've read by him because I think he is a damn good writer. And The Unsettlers is right up there with the best. This isn't a how to book, showing us a path to a simple life. Instead it's a profile of some incredibly interesting and complex people their quest not just for said better life, but for justice. And the book really lays out the fact that this good life is anything but simple. In the end the book left me with more questions than answers, but they were questions about myself and the choices I make as a consumer. I suspect that is exactly what Mark Sundeen hoped for.

[Kelsey Burnette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Sundeen weaves his own search for the meaning of life with the stories of three couples who are pursing their own unique "simple" lives. Though I kind of agree with Luci, who took issue with this description and loudly declared, "Nothing simple about it."

I'll say.

I'm a bit like Sundeen himself who ultimately realizes, "I was the type to read a book about such a person. Or write one. I was in the category of most simple-life dabblers: seduced by the idea of it, repelled by the hardship."

Some may not find Sundeen as charming as I did. He's painfully honest at times about his own life struggles, and they sounded so familiar that I was nearly cringing at times. But he does realize that he's on the right track, much as he sometimes doubts himself. And he has a great wife who really gets him: "She likened marriage to two stones in a polishing machine: they tumbled against each other--and it hurt--but they emerged smoother and more beautiful than they would ever have become sitting alone on the ground."

Great book. The section about Olivia and Gary in Detroit is the most interesting, but the section about Luci and Steve resonated the most, as it included how they live and raised their three kids to adulthood (the other couples have kids but are in the earlier stages of parenting small children). I relate to Luci when she acknowledges that she probably says "fuck" too much.

[Alycia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first couple profiled in this book drove me a little crazy. When the woman complains that the Amish wear polyester, I was ready to put the book down.
The section about the farmers in Detroit really saved it. And bringing it home with the family in Montana was pretty good too.
I absolutely could have done without the parts about the author's personal life.
So I recommend reading the sections on Detroit and Montana and skimming any parts that the author throws in about his life.

[Rick Presley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is semi-autobiographical and that's probably the weakest link for the whole thing and the source of my two stars. Had the author left himself out of it (and let a professional narrate his audiobook) it would have been 100% better. But he didn't and so it's maudlin to the point of near-nausea.

Let me start with a full confession. I'm a permaculture fan. I love homesteaders. My next door neighbor doesn't hold a job or work for a company, but he and his wife are able to live self-sufficiently very well. I gave him my flock of chickens, he has two incubators on semi-permanent loan that he uses to hatch his own chickens and ducks. He is up in Michigan this week catching salmon to stock his freezer alongside the saugeye he's caught locally, next to the venison and his own broiler chickens that he puts up himself. He trains race horses that his mom owns. His wife makes a variety of crafty stuff they sell all over. It's this entrepreneurial spirit that makes America great and makes them great neighbors. I believe the Millers of this book were those type of neighbors. I'd rather have heard about them than the author.

Sundeen was more infatuated with these people than he was in love with them. He is attracted to them, enthralled by them, and listens wistfully to the siren song of living off-grid and independently. I appreciate this. I know where this affection comes from. I've yielded to it myself. But there are some SERIOUS reservations I have about this book. The largest is his disillusionment with the actuality of this type of life. This is a man who admires hard work and even does it sometimes, but it's not him. So when others find satisfaction in it, he's more bemused and admiring than anything else. At the same time, he is disappointed that the utopians and practitioners don't live up to his ethereal expectations. These are normal people living a normal life of hard work, dedication to their ideals, and not according to the expectations of idealists like Sundeen. Of course his disappointment is going to come through.

I knew something was up when he made NO mention of Joel Salatin or paid a visit to Polyface farm. He met Paul Wheaton of permies.com but he never quoted his best line about doing good stuff instead of complaining about the bad guys. Probably because Sundeen didn't get that message. Or if he did, it didn't come through in the book.

On the other hand, I really would like to know more about the people he wrote about. I wish he had stood out of the way long enough for us to get to know them better. Maybe in a follow-up....

[SibylM · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free advance copy of this book from the publisher via a Goodreads giveaway, and an honest review was requested. This is a super-interesting book, touching on food production and culture, consumerism, the environment, activism, spirituality, and ethics. I came away feeling like I had a perfect window into worlds that I really didn't know much about. I admit that I came into this book with some pre-conceived notions about "WTO protestors" and "locavores" and similarly stereotyped groups of people, and I had all that blown away. Sundeen is such an excellent writer, too! I will definitely keep an eye out for future books from him and look up his backlist as well. My only small quibbles with this book are (1) it felt at times like the protagonists were a bit self-righteous and judgy, and the author, through what felt like an endorsement of them, was perhaps the same way; and (2) kind words about The Farm irritate me to no end -- I know it to be a place where children were starved and emotionally abused and when people just gush on and on about how great The Farm was I wish they would go talk to some of the people who were children on those school buses traveling from San Francisco and ask them how much they liked going to bed hungry and being kept separate from their parents. I HATE The Farm and I know my reaction to seeing it written about this way is pretty out of proportion but I really can't help it. #sorrynotsorry

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first few pages I was drawn to the story and the themes the author delves into. I was glad the book wasn't solely about people living off-grid and their day-to-day routines, but explored the reasons behind why they live as they do. Each family/group interviewed had such deep convictions that led them to live the lives they do, and I found that special. They were authentic, raw and real, without trying, which, as the author notes, is something rare in today's #liveauthentic culture. The author intertwines his own story quite well as he relates to many of the moral reasons the homesteaders chose their unique paths. This book explores religion, the history of the "commune" movement in America, morality, ethics, food production, environmentalism, minimalism, societal norms, politics...and likely a few more I'm forgetting.

If you're looking for a book to challenge your views of modern Western culture, or are simply, like I am, interested in the topics touched on in the book, I'd highly recommend this masterful piece of journalism.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking, relatable, non biased, honest. Starting a conversation about difficult subjects.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Alice Cuthbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love the idea of the book, the writing fell flat for me. Took me forever to get through it and I’m glad to be done.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of the book and I enjoyed reading about the three families the author featured, but I also had some major issues with it. First, Ree Drummond was named a modern day homesteader. I just.... she has a line of products at Wal-Mart! She married into one of the richest cattle ranching families, which is how she's been able to branch out and do so many things. She has a huge house and a huge guest house, a tv show that she films in her guest house kitchen. They have tennis courts. Yes she homeschools, and she may have a garden for fun, but modern homesteader would not be a term I would use when describing her. And mentioning Drummond was really at odds with the three families that he featured because they were SO focused on living sustainably and at varying levels of 'off the grid'. I also wasn't a fan of the way that he interjected his life into the book, especially since they weren't trying to become homesteaders or to make simpler life choices. In the end, they went in the complete opposite direction (which is fine!), but then why include yourself in the book? The book would have made much more sense if he had left himself completely out of it, or if he had left out the marriage issues and visited these three families and learned different skills from each, and then came home and implemented those skills into his own life. I would have loved to have read about their attempts to live more sustainably and the results, good or bad! Instead it ended up seeming like he chose a topic that he knows is currently popular and wrote a book about it, while doing exactly the opposite of what the book is about..

At times the book felt like it was lecturing, and at times it got bogged down in facts. I wanted more of the each family's story, and I wanted the author to learn from them and try to create his own version of a sustainable life and then report in real time on the advantages and hardships he encountered. I wanted the nitty gritty. This wasn't a bad book, but if you are looking for more of a 'what can I do to live sustainably and how I can make changes in my life' I would really recommend Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver instead.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointing book as I think there is a purpose and a demand for this kind of book, but Sundeen's work falls well short of its potential. Generally, it's a story of 3or 4 people (or couples) who in different ways seek to live simply, usually by living in a sustainable way and dismissing the societal norms of accumulating wealth and stuff. Unfortunately, many of these stories are rambling and don't quite land the point (if there is a point). the book felt like it would have been better as a long-form article in Outside magazine. The "good life" in these stories seem aspirational and noble, but they don't feel simple and didn't seem like the "good life" to me. Like any life, simple or not, there was joy and pain, excitement balanced with sorrow, and lots of hard work and frustration and disappointment. There was some preaching that I thought was unnecessary too. In the end, the book is useful as a reminder to think about the importance of living simply (which means different things for different people), thinking before buying, and thinking carefully about how you will measure you life in the end.

[Audacia Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading a lot of memoirs and how-to books about permaculture, small-scale farming, and homesteading this past year, and while the information is often good the whole framework and how the proponents of these approaches are nestled in white supremacy is pretty disturbing. So I was skeptical but interested in this book - I only decided to read it after learning that one of the main people portrayed is a black woman in Detroit. It really surprised me with the care and depth the author goes into issues around race, class, and agriculture under late capitalism. There's a lot to think about here and this is a great entry into a topic that is often written about as a breathless fantasy of what transformation could be if white homesteaders and permaculturists were out doing their thing. Also the writing is just good and the focus on a limited number of characters creates an enjoyable narrative.

[fire_on_the_mountain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am profoundly Unsettled, which I guess is the point. This was a suitable tempering of my myopic "simple life" wishes, but at the same time, in reinforced the foundations of what I really want, and how I want to get there. I don't know if the author meant to broach such deep spiritual concepts, or if he just struck a chord with me and where I'm at, but he did all the same. But, objectively, I think this in-depth look at the historical forces that not only drive our modern economy, but the cultural and political forces of resistance that inform today's unsettlers, was a creative and effective way to go about it. He found the right people to write about. I'm glad for a peek into their lives.

[Jasmin Darznik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought-provoking, engrossing, and beautifully written

Sundeen brings his subject to life with fantastic details and great storytelling. I didn't expect a book I couldn't put down, but that's what this is. An important book, full of unforgettable people, and exceedingly well-written.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really engaging book about 3 couples who have successfully made a go of it on the margins of society. The first couple that was detailed was super off-grid— they won’t even ride in cars (unless it’s an emergency), they don’t buy anything except some food items in bulk, among many other very strict ways of living (although they don’t see it that way). It was really unlike anyone I’ve ever heard or read about before. This was sometimes difficult to get through because they are so convinced that they are living the right way, and it really comes across like they believe this is the ONLY way anyone should live. I thought they raised some interesting points but I found them very extreme and rigid to the point where I wasn’t sure I should even be taking them seriously. At one point, this is actually said: “ “It breaks my heart,” she said. “The Amish wear polyester.” “ I just found the lack of awareness on why others may not want or be able to live this way incredible. This couple had actually wanted and hoped to attract others to live this way with them but unsurprisingly, after many years, they hadn’t really been able to do so.

The other two sections detailed a couple who run an urban farm in Detroit and another who were way ahead of the organic/biodynamic method of farming in Missoula in the 1980s. These sections were fascinating and I felt much more connected to these people and their stories.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today's America offers three very personal, very distinct approaches toward living an “authentic,” sentient way of life. I’ve read other reviews which criticize the author for including so much of his personal story; however, his struggle with achieving self-actualized independence from “the system” only adds to the discussion around the challenges faced by the families he focuses on. His approach includes an examination of historical precedents, movement philosophers, and socio-economic factors that can affect the success or failure of these endeavors. His approach was pretty pragmatic, and I appreciate that.

[Tiffanellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The most sustainable city is New York", trying to go back to a simple life actually requires multitudes of resources that is most likely an urban luxury! (Whole Foods, Solar Panels, Going Vegan). Cedar is my favorite. Would read again just to encounter Cedar.

[Maria Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s the kind of book that makes you rethink your life and informs your next decisions. The Unsettlers is packed with just enough history to educate without boring and well-told stories to inspire a kind of thinking.

[Alisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

INSPIRING!!!!!!

[Vishal Katariya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book about people who try to let themselves out of the current economy, or try to live in a way that brings them closer to the ground and nature, or people who just want to live more simply, but with no 'rules'. I felt inspired.

[Vovka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few profiles of folks bucking our mainstream definitions of success. Occasionally brilliant writing, but a little uneven in terms of depth. Would have liked some connection to philosophy, because this is an ancient question and the author never goes deep on it.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting contemplation of how to opt out of a destructive system but I would be interested in more examples and analysis rather than really slow looks at a small number of examples

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts of this were AMAZING, and a lot of things flopped - in the beginning there's a question (familiar to me from the last season of The Good Place, among other things) of how much negative (specifically environmental) impact comes from minor choices in modern life, i.e. buying a banana, which is SO INTERESTING to me but never gets revisited. There's a lot of a dumb trope of a cishet guy getting engaged to a cishet woman and being "trapped" - a lot of stories about white people "returning to the land" and definitely no mention/conversation about folks with different capacities for physical work/labor/travel. A really good nugget and also a ton of oversights.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Unsettlers” by Mark Sundeen is a book for those of us who’ve imagined living life a degree or two less conventionally than most--more self-reliant, less materialistic, with a sense of well being that comes from a connection to the gifts nature gives us. Sundeen himself would fit into that category of dreamer, and he uses the dilemma of where to draw the line of unconventionality for himself as a premise for examining the three families in this book.

The first section introduces us to Sarah and Ethan, an earnest young couple who’ve settled in Missouri after finding a piece of land to fit their specific criteria. Their desire to grow most of their own food and be free from a dependency on cars or airplanes for transportation led them to a home with a year-round water source that is situated within biking distance of a train station.

Sarah and Ethan are not isolationists. They prioritize community and attend and host events in a nearby college town. They have tried with varying degrees of success to open their property and way of life to others who share their desire to live without fossil fuels or most anything else produced by corporations. Sundeen spends some time with them at the Possibility Alliance--the name they’ve given their home and project-- and seems truly moved and impressed by their way of life. His descriptions of their farm and lifestyle paint an appealing picture and his hope for the success of their experiment in radical simplicity is palpable.

Profiled in the middle section of “The Unsettlers” are Olivia and Greg whose story is less about finding the perfect piece of property and more about creating a sustainable life in what most would consider an unlikely place. This hard-working duo farms in Detroit. They launched the city’s first CSA, (community supported agriculture) and partnered with a friend to turn the manure from the Detroit Zoo into farmable soil.

Sundeen weaves the political and economic history of Detroit into his story of this farming couple, and the issues they have to contend with--city codes, looters, damaged earth--are not typical for more rural farmers. Olivia and Greg have to be both street smart and farm smart, and their ability to adapt to the demands of city farming is as admirable as their commitment to food justice.

Luci Brieger and Steve Elliot own and operate Lifeline Produce in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana. As I read about them in the third part of “The Unsettlers” I couldn’t help but think that this couple seemed familiar, possibly because their lifestyle is similar to many people who’ve decided to settle in Alaska. They are practical do-it-yourselfers, who’ve set certain standards for themselves that have less to do with saving the world and more to do with their deep convictions about how the world should work. There is a right way to do things and a wrong way, and laziness and overconsumption are wrong. They raised their now young adult children on hard work, hockey, thrift store clothes and essentially no processed foods. They also sent them to public schools with the belief that “the mix of social class and background are the underpinning of democracy.”

While the profiles of the three couples in “The Unsettlers” are the backbone of Sundeen’s book, it amounts to something much bigger overall. It’s an examination of our society juxtaposed against alternative, and quite likely better, ways of doing things. It was impossible for me to read it and not feel inspired to examine my own habits and choices.

In describing his experience of writing the book Sundeen says, “The three families I wrote about were not just living an alternative life. They had each taken on a fundamental aspect of how the world is broken, and had attempted, with all their might, to address it--in ways that felt sustainable, maybe even replicable. They inspired me. They challenged me not to quit my own dreaming just because my visions could never be made perfect.”

Here’s to making whatever small shifts we can toward a simpler and more fulfilling life, and here’s to the books like “The Unsettlers” that inspire our change.

[Laura Haven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been thinking about the 'American Dream'...what it is and what we're willing to ignore/plunder to have it. Cue spying this book on a library shelf...I'm pretty sure it picked me, not the other way around. The Unsettlers is a dizzying crash course on homesteading, environmental politics, black history, urban farming...all beautifully researched and narrated. It'll make you think, that's all. And turn off the lights. And grow some food.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the Unsettlers, Mark Sundeen spends time with three families that have traded a life of comfort for one that is simpler; a life connected to the land and eschewing most technology; and a life that relies on their surrounding community.

In Missouri, Ethan and Sarah, two thirtysomethings that have invested in a farm and are a six mile bike ride to any kind of township and transportation. They're focused on an intentional community devoted to living off the land and doing good.

In Detroit, we are introduced to Olivia and Greg, a young couple trying to provide good food and stability under tough conditions. They grow food in Detroit's inner city, a food desert after the city was abandoned by people of privilege.

In Montana, Mark traces the history of Luci and Steve, a couple that started a farm in the eighties an have worked their way from poverty to relative comfort and wealth. They struggle with their children's dreams that exist outside the farm life and they question their own contribution to the largely inconsequential organic labeling and the hipster boom of urban farming.

In each of these stories, Mark interweaves his own personal struggles being newly married and wanting a more simple life; a life of purpose that reflects his deepest values. By living and working amongst these three families, Mark comes full circle with some interesting discoveries along the way.

Many times in my life, I've questioned my own decisions of how I live my life and whether I'm really helping this planet and the ones around me. The stories of people that leave their corporate jobs to become their own boss and farm deeply resonate with me and I question whether I should do the same thing. That being said, I've always known deep-down that particular life is not one that I'm willing to suffer for. This book only solidified my feelings on the subject. For those with similar questions about their own life, I think The Unsettlers will be a satisfactory read in which you'll come away with your own answers.