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4 reviews for:
We Are As Gods: Back to the Land in the 1970s on the Quest for a New America
Kate Daloz
4.11 AVERAGE
4 reviews for:
We Are As Gods: Back to the Land in the 1970s on the Quest for a New America
Kate Daloz
4.11 AVERAGE
We Are as Gods is a fascinating history of a time we're just far enough away from to be able to examine critically; the story of the Back-to-the-Land movement of the 1970s provides necessary context not only for the contemporary locavore, farm-to-table, DIY movements, but also, indirectly, for the pendulum-swing toward conservatism of national politics. It's helpful to grasp the nature and scope of the threat that the counterculture posed in order to understand the extremity of the conservative backlash.
The history itself seemed to me to be well-researched and thorough. I was a little thrown by the fact that this is also a memoir--it seemed, in a way, to undermine the historian's stance, although I might not have seen it that way if there had been a foreword that simply revealed the author's relationship to the subjects directly. This information came through, but in a sort of "Here's a twist!" way that suggested that the author was afraid that her participation in the story would render it less reliable as history. In this way, it oddly bridges two genres, but I think that could be resolved well enough if the hybrid were owned up to from the get-go.
Well worth reading, particularly if you're interested in the history of alternative, countercultural relationships with American land, dating back to the 19th-century's communalists movements.
The history itself seemed to me to be well-researched and thorough. I was a little thrown by the fact that this is also a memoir--it seemed, in a way, to undermine the historian's stance, although I might not have seen it that way if there had been a foreword that simply revealed the author's relationship to the subjects directly. This information came through, but in a sort of "Here's a twist!" way that suggested that the author was afraid that her participation in the story would render it less reliable as history. In this way, it oddly bridges two genres, but I think that could be resolved well enough if the hybrid were owned up to from the get-go.
Well worth reading, particularly if you're interested in the history of alternative, countercultural relationships with American land, dating back to the 19th-century's communalists movements.
Absolutely fantastic, highly recommend. I loved how the author looked at the particular via the Myrtle Hill Commune and via her own parents' back-to-the-land experience, but also looked at the bigger picture via the context of American history far past and in the time of the 1970s. It all worked together to make just the right reading magic.
This book also made me wonder if maybe this back-to-the-land movement explains why the dominant colors of the 1970s were mustard yellow, carrot orange, and every shade of brown imaginable? Just a thought.
This book also made me wonder if maybe this back-to-the-land movement explains why the dominant colors of the 1970s were mustard yellow, carrot orange, and every shade of brown imaginable? Just a thought.
It's not that there was any problem with the book, rather it just didn't tell the story that I thought it would.
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2016/04/back-to-garden.html
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2016/04/back-to-garden.html
I don't generally read non-fiction but this book was very interesting and informative and told real people's stories during a time in American history not so far back that I really knew nothing about. I really enjoyed it!