The humane vision of Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry--poet, novelist, essayist, critic, farmer--has won the admiration of Americans from all walks of life and from across the political spectrum. His writings treat an extraordinary range of subjects, including politics, economics, ecology, farming, work, marriage, religion, and education. But as this new book shows, such diverse writings are untied by a humane--and profoundly conservative--vision that finds its inspiration in the great moral and literary tradition of the West. In The Human Vision of Wendell Berry, Mark T. Mitchell and Nathan Schlueter bring together a distinguished roster of writers to critically engage Berry's ideas. The volume features original contributions from Rod Dreher, Anthony Esolen, Allan Carlson, Richard Gamble, Jason Peters, Ann Husted Burleigh, Patrick J. Deneen, Caleb Stegall, Luke Schlueter, Matt Bonzo, Michael Stevens, D.G. Hart, Mark Shiffman, and William Edmund Fahey, as well as a letter to Berry by famed novelist Wallace Stegner. Together, these authors situate Berry's ideas within the larger context of conservative thought. His vision stands for reality in its facets and against all reductive isms--for intellect against intellectualism, individuality against individualism, community against communitarianism, liberty against libertarianism.