Wendell Berry—farmer, essayist, novelist, poet, activist, teacher—lives with his wife Tanya on the banks of the Kentucky River. There he has farmed a Kentucky hillside for over half a century in his native Henry County, where his family has lived for eight generations.

As a small-scale farmer who has used mules instead of machinery for plowing, Berry has taken a stand for decades against the destructive impact of industrial agriculture. He advocates for rural communities, for local economies, and for commitment to the land and one’s place on it. Believing that one’s work ought to be rooted in and responsive to one’s place, he regards affection, knowledge, and memory as the prerequisites for good stewardship and good use.

Wendell Berry delivered People, Land, and Community on October 24, 1981.

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