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librarystax's review against another edition
4.0
The writing was beautiful, the question was interesting, the story was well told. A good read. There are more questions than answers and it sort of just unfolds. Sometimes the authors person got under my skin in a way I can’t put my finger on, but that’s more a me problem. Def read this book!
corene's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book so much! As a person raised in a conservative church who then discovered Rob Bell, the Liturgists, and different world views on my way out, it was fascinating to see an outsider encounter the kind of people I grew up with. Her research is thorough and impeccable, and her storytelling resonated with my experience.
scottjbaxter's review against another edition
I did not realize it when I started Marie Mutsuki Mockett's American Harvest: God, Country, and Farming in the Heartland, that the core of the book is a travel narrative. Somehow I was expecting something different, although I am not sure what I was expecting. Mutsuki Mockett and her crew of Mennonite contract harvesters from Lancaster, Pennsylvania travel to and through Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Idaho cutting wheat fields. They are highly skilled workers operating combines and other sophisticated equipment. This is not the sort of work a dedicated amateur could just figure out with a little elbow grease. (Although Mutsuki Mockett herself is mostly along for the ride and a participant observer who does some of the work while writing ethnographic field notes in the off hours.)
Mutsuki Mockett was raised in a Buddhist tradition with a Japanese mother and Scottish father with time spent in Nebraska, San Francisco, and New York City. There is much written about the Christian Bible, Protestant churches, and the Anabaptists. There is a lot about the Anabaptists and Mennonites. The term Anabaptist occurs 18 times when I did a search on my kindle. Mutsuki Mockett clearly put a lot of work into reading and thinking about topics as diverse as the Book of Revelation, the history of Oklahoma (did you know it was admitted as the 46th state in only 1907?), geology (with an explanation of the Laramide orogeny), Native America (she attends a Sun Dance), and Native Americans, Mormons, and Protestant Christians, psychological decision making, and farm implements. Although, occasionally, the author underestimates the background knowledge of here readers such as when she spends half a page explaining what an auger is.
A topic that comes up over and over is the gap between multicultural New York City and San Francisco where the author had many Black, Jewish, Latino, and gay friends and small towns where white evangelical farmers grow wheat. This distinction is often tied to organic and Non-GMO farming as opposed to the methods are far more common among most farmers. This quote illustrates the idea:
While the book does mention Trump once and describes what it was like to hear about what happened at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and how it was (or not) talked about in a small protestant church at the time, Mutsuki Mockett wisely steers clear of politics in the book. The book offers no definitive answers to the questions that come up about the cultural gap between small town America and coastal urban America.
I thought the book was well written and worth my time.
Mutsuki Mockett was raised in a Buddhist tradition with a Japanese mother and Scottish father with time spent in Nebraska, San Francisco, and New York City. There is much written about the Christian Bible, Protestant churches, and the Anabaptists. There is a lot about the Anabaptists and Mennonites. The term Anabaptist occurs 18 times when I did a search on my kindle. Mutsuki Mockett clearly put a lot of work into reading and thinking about topics as diverse as the Book of Revelation, the history of Oklahoma (did you know it was admitted as the 46th state in only 1907?), geology (with an explanation of the Laramide orogeny), Native America (she attends a Sun Dance), and Native Americans, Mormons, and Protestant Christians, psychological decision making, and farm implements. Although, occasionally, the author underestimates the background knowledge of here readers such as when she spends half a page explaining what an auger is.
A topic that comes up over and over is the gap between multicultural New York City and San Francisco where the author had many Black, Jewish, Latino, and gay friends and small towns where white evangelical farmers grow wheat. This distinction is often tied to organic and Non-GMO farming as opposed to the methods are far more common among most farmers. This quote illustrates the idea:
"You think," said my cousin in his summarizing voice, "that the Christians don't mind playing with genetic material, even though they believe God created everything and some of them don't like stem cells, and your atheist friends like the idea of food in which the genetic material hasn't been modified, even though they don't believe in God, and even though all food has been modified."
"Right," I said. "so if we don't believe in God, and we think everything can be explained by evolution and genes, why does it matter if we alter the DNA?"
"Ah."
They were all quiet. It was a good question. It was based on some assumptions, but it was an intriguing question. Finally, my uncle patted me on the shoulder. "You'll spend a long time with this one."
While the book does mention Trump once and describes what it was like to hear about what happened at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and how it was (or not) talked about in a small protestant church at the time, Mutsuki Mockett wisely steers clear of politics in the book. The book offers no definitive answers to the questions that come up about the cultural gap between small town America and coastal urban America.
I thought the book was well written and worth my time.
jwf's review against another edition
5.0
I have been thinking about my review of this book for several days and have not come up with a well organized way to present it, I apologize in advance for my haphazard and incomplete thoughts.
First of all, I was probably primed to love this book. I am a former farmer and lapsed Christian who works for a Mennonite in a predominantly Mennonite community. Also the 1972 National Geographic article about customer harvesting crews was probably one of the first magazine articles that I ever read.
Yes this is a flawed book. No combine head weighs 12 tons. There are no where near a billion grains of wheat per bushel. Also some of the author's statements about the Mennonite community miss the mark at times.
Having said all this, I still loved the book and recommend it. Immediately prior to reading this book I read Mary Trump's book, Too Much and Never Enough, which is similar to this book in as much as it is a flawed book about flawed people, and could only be described a soul crushing. In American Harvest, the author never finds the answers to her questions, never fully understands the people she is with and unintentionally seems to cause dissension within the harvesting crew; and yet the book for me was soul elevating. For me it was refreshing to read a book where the author saw that it is possible to tolerate, appreciate, possibly even befriend people who don't look like you or think like you.
First of all, I was probably primed to love this book. I am a former farmer and lapsed Christian who works for a Mennonite in a predominantly Mennonite community. Also the 1972 National Geographic article about customer harvesting crews was probably one of the first magazine articles that I ever read.
Yes this is a flawed book. No combine head weighs 12 tons. There are no where near a billion grains of wheat per bushel. Also some of the author's statements about the Mennonite community miss the mark at times.
Having said all this, I still loved the book and recommend it. Immediately prior to reading this book I read Mary Trump's book, Too Much and Never Enough, which is similar to this book in as much as it is a flawed book about flawed people, and could only be described a soul crushing. In American Harvest, the author never finds the answers to her questions, never fully understands the people she is with and unintentionally seems to cause dissension within the harvesting crew; and yet the book for me was soul elevating. For me it was refreshing to read a book where the author saw that it is possible to tolerate, appreciate, possibly even befriend people who don't look like you or think like you.
zellm's review against another edition
3.0
I think all the important aspects I'd review have already been stated with more nuance in other reviews than I could provide. This felt very self-centered and navel-gazing, the author spends so much time talking about her experiences and judgements and so little time trying to understand how others feel. And yet, there's so little self-examination. It doesn't answer any of the questions it set out to answer, and creates more along the way.
tovey's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Talk about a book living rent free in your head
juanjmorales's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.5
lifeinpoetry's review against another edition
4.0
This book is not farming or her attempts at learning farming, it's about her attempt to pick through race, identity, spirituality, and the feelings of entitlement many Americans have when it comes to Native culture despite the fact it's not theirs to claim. It's not that she doesn't accept the answers people give her about GMOs/Christianity/farming, it's that she's trying to understand what her book is really about, what the questions beneath her half-baked GMO question really are.
corvidaemp's review against another edition
5.0
What a beautiful meander through the heartland. I really wasn't sure I would like this book but it so gently and sincerely asks you to be open and ask questions. It's refreshing to not feel an opinion pressed down on you and to instead peruse a dialogue. Great read.