Eleanor Agnew

An interesting contrast to the modern farm movement. Well written investigation of the motivations and discoveries of the back to the land movement in the 1970s. I'll be interested to see if the current crop of off-the-grid idealists ends up with the same disillusionments, or creates a viable alternative culture of food.

Drawing on her own personal experience with homesteading as a hippie and the experience of numerous current and former back-to-the-landers of the generation that she interviewed, the author shows us just what her subtitle promised: why some hippies left not just the mainstream but civilization proper to try to live off the land, and what made them return.

This is an interesting read for anyone who has questioned the sanity of the “modern” world and considered, however seriously, leaving show more it for ecological or social reasons. For those who dislike hippies it may be a chuckle. For those who are considering or working on an alternative to the cities and suburbs it is a book of cautionary tales. show less

A noteworthy read about all the Back-to-the-Landers and what they found when they got there. The natural utopia that the hippies and disillusioned city dwellers dreamed about was elusive. The author interviews lots of BTTLs to find out what went wrong. A very satisfying read.