Quest for Walden : A Study of the Country Book in American Popular Literature, with an Annotated Bibliography, 1863-1995

For many urban-dwellers, a Walden-like five acres, two hours outside the city, would be their answer to the American dream. Over the years, writers--usually exurbanites long fascinated with the theme of retreat to the pastoral ideal--have published country books urging the return to rural life. Country books follow two formats--the country life essay and the handbook--and as a group trace changes in society and American values since the mid-1860s.The first book-length study of the country book, this work gives detailed content analyses of both country essays and handbooks, examines the back-to-land movement as reflected in books from 1863 through 1995, and discusses the influence of Henry David Thoreau's Walden on the genre. Included are chapter-length studies of David Grayson (Ray Stannard Baker), Louis Bromfield and Malabar Farm, naturist Hal Borland, Gladys Taber and her Stillmeadow Farm, and Helen and Scott Nearing. Other notable authors discussed are Henry Beston, Lewis Gannett, poet Donald Hall, Haydn Pearson, and Mark Van Doren. The extensive annotated bibliography includes over 200 works.