Back from the land
Subtitle: how young Americans went to nature in the 1970s, and why they came back
By: Eleanor Agnew
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Number of pages: 274
ISBN-13: 9781566635806
Subjects: Landflucht; Urban-rural migration; Social conditions; Rural-urban migration; Stadtflucht; Farm life
Description: "When Eleanor Agnew, her husband, and two young children moved to the Maine woods in 1975, the back-to-the-land movement had already attracted untold numbers of converts who had grown increasingly estranged from mainstream American society. Visionaries by the millions were moving into woods, mountains, orchards, and farmlands in order to disconnect from the supposedly deleterious influences of modern life." "Fed up with capitalism, TV, Washington politics, and 9-to-5 jobs, these modern-day Thoreaus took up residence in log cabins, A-frames, tents, old schoolhouses, and run-down farmhouses. They grew their own crops, hauled water from wells, avoided doctors in favor of natural cures, and renounced energy-guzzling appliances." "This is their story, in all its glories and agonies, its triumphs and disasters, told by a woman who experienced the simple life firsthand but has also read widely and interviewed scores of people who went back to the land as she did. Eleanor Agnew tells how the new settlers found joy and camaraderie, studied their issues of Mother Earth News, coped with frozen laundry and grinding poverty, and persevered or gave up."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-266) and index.
Table of contents: title: The lure of back to the land; title: Early days in a technology-free zone; title: The height of happiness; title: Getting close to nature and natural processes; title: Not-so-genteel poverty; title: Generating cash flow; title: Staying healthy, and paying for it; title: Relationships : friends, lovers, family, community; title: Turning points; title: Finding a niche in the mainstream; title: Lessons and legacies.