Essayist, social critic, poet, "mad farmer," novelist, teacher, and prophet: Wendell Berry has been called many things, but the broad sweep of his contemporary relevance and influence defies facile labels. With his unique perspective and far-reaching vision, Berry poses complex questions about humankind and our relationship to the land and offers simple but profound solutions. Berry's essays, novels, and poems give voice to a provocative but consistent philosophy, one that extends far beyond its agrarian core to include elements of sociology, the natural sciences, politics, religion, philosophy, linguistics, agriculture, and other seemingly incompatible fields of study. Wendell Berry: Life and Work examines this wise and original thinker, appraising his written work and exploring his influence as an activist and artist. Jason Peters has assembled a broad variety of writers including Hayden Carruth, Sven Birkerts, Barbara Kingsolver, Stanley Hauerwas, Donald Hall, Ed McClanahan, Bill McKibben, Scott Russell Sanders, Norman Wirzba, Wes Jackson, and Eric T. Freyfogle. Each contributor examines an aspect of Berry's varied yet cohesive body of work. Also included are highly personal glimpses of Wendell Berry: his career, academic influence, and unconventional lifestyle. These deft sketches of Berry show the purity of his agrarian lifestyle and demonstrate that there is nothing simple about the life to which he has devoted himself. He embraces a life that sustains him not by easy purchase and haste but by physical labor and patience, not by mindless acquiescence to a centralized economy but by careful attention to local ways and wisdom. Wendell Berry: Life and Work combines biographical sketches, personal accounts, literary criticism, and social commentary. Together, the contributors illuminate Berry as he is: a complex man of place and community with an astonishing depth of domestic, intellectual, filial, and fraternal attributes. The result is a rich portrait of one of America's most profound and honest thinkers. "This is a superb collection. Berry is one of America's greatest social critics, essayists, and poets, and the grand simplicity and unity of his life and thoughts emerges from the fascinating details of his personal history, captured beautifully in the words of his friends." ―David Ehrenfeld, author of The Arrogance of Humanism and Swimming Lessons: Ke "Though the 'characters' herein are real people, there is magic in this book that rivals the best of Wendell Berry's writings. Over and over we see solitary readers grappling with Berry's art and thought amid struggles and in places unknown to the author. The magic is that they receive direction and succor even so. The loving reciprocity of these 'What I've Gained from Wendell' tales is so natural yet powerful it brings to mind planting and harvesting. The integrity-filled life, poetic depth, devastating prophesies, and superlative prose of Mr. Berry long ago achieved a consistency that verges on the relentless. To see his good work gently rise from the page, years and miles later, to touch lives he has not imagined in ways he has not foreseen, converts this near relentlessness into simple grace." ―David James Duncan, author of The Brothers K "I can't think of any subject matter more timely, and timeless, than the suite of ideas that Wendell Berry has championed over the years. While giving thoughtful attention to those ideas, this anthology also offers rare insight into the person behind the words. Like the unmistakable laugh of Mr. Berry himself, it is sure to leave readers both invigorated, and basking in the grace of this gentle, wise man." ―Jennifer Sahn, editor of Orion magazine "[A] stimulating collection. Berry has long deserved such a masterful collection as this. Peters' volume does what the best of the collections always do: It drives us to pick up Berry's writings and read them over and over again." ―Henry L. Carrigan, Jr., Charlotte Observer "The essays collected by Peters unearth a simplicity and unity beneath Berry's complex surface, proffering a source of inspiration for those seeking to live life better and encouraging audiences to forsake worldly consumerism in favor of consumption of Berry's words." ―Kentucky Monthly "If it is true that we live lives of noisy desperation, prone to the seductions of fashion and to the 'thrall of our appetites,' we could do worse than to hear a voice that offers an alternative. Wendell Berry: Life and Work is a rewarding way to begin listening to such a voice." ―Paul Doerksen, Winnipeg Free Press "The most comprehensive single source evaluating Berry and his impact." ―Whitney Hale, UK News "Pairing literary criticism with more personal work, Peters' volume does a remarkable jobn connecting the dots between Berry's physical labors and his intellectual ones." ―The Post and Courier (online) "This appreciation of Berry by friends and colleagues is a fitting tribute to a man whose writing truly has th