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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] History and homesteading
  • Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:08:27 -0700


On Dec 19, 2007, at 5:25 PM, Robert Walton wrote:

Funny that the last dates in that post are the 1970s. When I look at
my library, I don't see anything written after the 70s. I guess my
generation is conrtibuting by actions, but would be good to see some
later contributions Maybe they are there and I am just misisng them.

It is far from an exhaustive list. The Whole Earth Catalog was followed by The Last Whole Earth Catalog, the Whole Earth Epilog, The Millenium Catalog and The Whole Earth Review magazine, which started life as CoEvolution Quarterly and became defunct in 2003.

My copy of Back To Basics: How To Learn And Enjoy Traditional American Skills, was published in 1981 by Readers Digest. Of note also are John Seymour's various books, including The Self-sufficient Life and How to Live It (2003). Those seeking helpful books will do well to look to Chelsea Books Publishing which, together with Rodale, is the publisher of many books related to self-reliance. Chelsea once published Gene Logsdon but he is now at Real Goods. His early books are most useful.

The Mother Earth News continues to be published, as does Backwoods Home Magazine, Countryside & Small Stock Journal and BackHome Magazine, which was founded by TMEN employees who were put out of work when Shuttleworth sold TMEN for such a high price that the buyer went bankrupt and when a big publisher bought it out of bankruptcy it was moved to New York City. One of my continuing favorites is Harrowsmith Country Life magazine, which is no longer published in the USA but continues in Canada. I get a pile of back copies when we visit our Canadian grandsons.

Poking around on my shelves I also find A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity, by William Coperthwaite, published by Chelsea Green but curiously without a title page. Amazon.com shows my hardcover edition as published 2003. It is modestly practical but highly inspirational.

So, Rob, do not lament the lack of new publications. We tend to be nostalgic for what spoke to us when we were finding our life plan but, while a diminishing portion of society, homesteading and its ideals persist in a large number of we Americans as well as many more around the world.





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