Wendell Berry’s The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture is a force of nature. First published in 1977, Berry wrote this book as a response to the USDA’s shameful mantra that we have a “surplus of farmers” and that those remaining ought to “get big or get out.” Unfortunately, The Unsettling of America is as relevant today as it was nearly fifty years ago. It may be more so.

Join Dr. Leah Bayens in an extended study of Wendell Berry’s iconic book, The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture. Retrace the story of this land’s unsettling and the resulting agricultural, ecological, and social calamities. Join with friends and neighbors, near and far, to consider the roots of current challenges and the threads of the past that help make it possible to farm in full health through land-settling cultures, parity-based economies, and kindly-use communities. Along the way, explore how The Berry Center translates this book’s lessons into its own guiding principles.Participants receive a reading guide that has been field tested by The Berry Center’s staff, board of directors, and area farmers.

Participants also keep Agrarian Reflective Journals to record their thoughts about, reactions to, and practical uses of Berry’s important book, which can be purchased from The Bookstore at The Berry Center.