"First published in 1969 and out of print for more than twenty-five years, The Long-Legged House was Wendell Berry's first collection of essays, the inaugural work introducing many of the central issues that have occupied him over the course of his career. Three essays at the heart of this volume -- 'The Rise,' 'The Long-Legged House,' and 'A Native Hill' -- are essays of homecoming and memoir, as the writer finds his home place, his native ground, his place on earth. As he later wrote, 'What I stand for is what I stand on,' and here we see him beginning the acts of rediscovery and resettling."
~~ back cover

I've always thought I should love reading Wendell Berry. He echoes my thoughts about the earth and my relationship to it, our relationship to it. But most of what I've read before has been difficult to get into, to feel rather than think. The first essay continued that tradition, but then the essays became more personal, less theoretical. And I was seduced at last.

I dare you to read this book. I dare you to read about the destruction of the land and the environment without weeping in pain and shame. I dare you to read Wendell Berry at his passionate, rational best and not be moved, not be changed.

I dare you to read this book. ( )