Wendell Berry Books

This edition features the complete fiction of a celebrated American author, showcasing their unique storytelling and character development. It highlights the writer's contributions to contemporary literature, making it a significant addition to any literary collection. Readers can expect a diverse range of themes and styles that reflect the author's distinct voice and perspective, celebrating their impact on the literary landscape.

Set in the fictional community of Port William, Kentucky, this collection features newly reissued stories by Wendell Berry that delve into the lives of its residents. Berry's rich storytelling captures the essence of rural life, exploring themes of community, nature, and the interconnectedness of human experiences. Through his vivid characters and evocative prose, he invites readers to immerse themselves in the heart of this beloved setting.

This volume features a curated selection of nonfiction works by a leading advocate for sustainable culture, highlighting their influential ideas and perspectives. It showcases a range of essays that explore critical themes related to environmentalism, sustainability, and cultural awareness. The collection aims to inspire readers to engage with pressing ecological issues and reflect on the importance of sustainable practices in contemporary society.

The tales of Port William, a little farming community nestled deep in the Kentucky River valley. The tales unravel the story of a town over the course of four generations, chronicling the intertwined lives of the families who call it home

A collection of twenty short stories about Port William, a mythical town on the banks of the Kentucky River, populated over the years by a cast of unforgettable characters living in a single place over a long time

The most comprehensive―and only author-authorized―Wendell Berry reader, "America's greatest philosopher on sustainable life and living" (Chicago Tribune). In a time when our relationship to the natural world is ruled by the violence and greed of unbridled consumerism, Wendell Berry speaks out in these prescient essays, drawn from his fifty-year campaign on behalf of American lands and communities. The writings gathered in The World-Ending Fire are the unique product of a life spent farming the fields of rural Kentucky with mules and horses, and of the rich, intimate knowledge of the land cultivated by this work. These are essays written in defiance of the false call to progress and in defense of local landscapes, essays that celebrate our cultural heritage, our history, and our home. With grace and conviction, Wendell Berry shows that we simply cannot afford to succumb to the mass-produced madness that drives our global economy―the natural world will not allow it. Yet he also shares with us a vision of consolation and of hope. We may be locked in an uneven struggle, but we can and must begin to treat our land, our neighbors, and ourselves with respect and care. As Berry urges, we must abandon arrogance and stand in awe.

"If you stop and look around you, you'll start to see. Tall marigolds darkening. A spring wind blowing. The woods awake with sound. On the wooden porch, your love smiling. Dew-wet red berries in a cup. On the hills, the beginnings of green, clover and grass to be pasture. The fowls singing and then settling for the night. Bright, silent, thousands of stars. You come into the peace of simple things. From the author of the 'compelling' and 'luminous' essays of The World-Ending Fire comes a slim volume of poems. Tender and intimate, these are consoling songs of hope and of healing; short, simple meditations on love, death, friendship, memory and belonging. They celebrate and elevate what is sensuous about life, and invite us to pause and appreciate what is good in life, to stop and savour our fleeting moments of earthly enjoyment. And, when fear for the future keeps us awake at night, to come into the peace of wild things."--Publisher

The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry gathers one hundred poems written between 1957 and 1996. Chosen by the author, these pieces have been selected from each of nine previously published collections. The rich work in this volume reflects the development of Berry’s poetic sensibility over four decades. Focusing on themes that have occupied his work for years―land and nature, family and community, tradition as the groundwork for life and culture― The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry celebrates the broad range of this vital and transforming poet.

A new collection of poems and the companion volume to the popular bestseller This Day, Wendell Berry's Another Day is another stunning contribution to the poetry canon from one of America's most beloved writers A companion to his beloved volume This Day and Wendell Berry's first new poetry collection since 2016, this new selection of Sabbath Poems are filled with spiritual longing and political extremity, memorials and celebrations, elegies and lyrics, alongside the occasional rants of the Mad Farmer, pushed to the edge yet again by his compatriots and elected officials. With the publication of this new edition, it has become increasingly clear that the Sabbath Poems have become the very heart of Berry’s work.

Berry’s Sabbath Poems embrace much that is elemental to human life—beauty, death, peace, and hope. In his preface, Berry writes about the growing audience for public poetry readings. While he sees poetry in the public eye as a good thing, Berry asks us to recognize the private life of the poem. These Sabbath Poems were written ""in silence, in solitude, and mainly out of doors,"" and tell us about ""moments when heart and mind are open and aware." Wendell Berry is beloved for his quiet, steady explorations of nature, his emphasis on finding good work to do in the world, and his faith in the solace of family, memory, and community. His poetry is assured and unceasingly spiritual; its power lies in the strength of the truths revealed.

“This is a book about Heaven,” says Jayber Crow, “but I must say too that . . . I have wondered sometimes if it would not finally turn out to be a book about Hell.” It is 1932 and he has returned to his native Port William to become the town's barber. Orphaned at age ten, Jayber Crow’s acquaintance with loneliness and want have made him a patient observer of the human animal, in both its goodness and frailty. He began his search as a "pre-ministerial student" at Pigeonville College. There, freedom met with new burdens and a young man needed more than a mirror to find himself. But the beginning of that finding was a short conversation with "Old Grit," his profound professor of New Testament Greek."You have been given questions to which you cannot be given answers. You will have to live them out―perhaps a little at a time.""And how long is that going to take?""I don't know. As long as you live, perhaps.""That could be a long time.""I will tell you a further mystery," he said. "It may take longer." Wendell Berry’s clear-sighted depiction of humanity’s gifts―love and loss, joy and despair―is seen though his intimate knowledge of the Port William Membership.

Set in a rural Kentucky river town, the story unfolds through the reflections of "Old Jack" Beechum, a retired farmer, as he revisits a pivotal day in September 1952. The narrative evokes the essence of America's past, highlighting the deep connection between the land and its inhabitants. Through Jack's perspective, the novel explores the enduring values that shaped American identity as the nation transitioned into the next century.

A “superb study” that “reminds us that Williams remains our contemporary not only for the lively cadences and fresh imagery that animate his poems, but for the ethical imperative of his example” (The Sewanee Review). Acclaimed essayist and poet Wendell Berry was born and has always lived in a provincial part of the country without an established literary culture. In an effort to adapt his poetry to his place of Henry County, Kentucky, Berry discovered an enduringly useful example in the work of William Carlos Williams. In Williams’ commitment to his place of Rutherford, New Jersey, Berry found an inspiration that inevitably influenced the direction of his own writing. Both men would go on to establish themselves as respected American poets, and here Berry sets forth his understanding of that evolution for Williams, who in the course of his local membership and service, became a poet indispensable to us all. “Generously quoting many of Williams’ best lines . . . Berry produces a work of aesthetics more than evaluation, of love more than critique.” —Booklist

Set during Christmas in 1943, a young boy named Andy Catlett embarks on his first solo bus journey to visit his grandparents in Port William, marking a significant rite of passage into manhood. As he navigates this solitary voyage, his experiences become crucial moments in the broader narrative of the Port William series. The story reflects on the tension between traditional ways of life and the encroaching modern world, while Andy later reminisces about the tales of his neighbors and friends, enriching the tapestry of his community.

An urgent, visionary, and heartfelt collection of essays focused on recovering deeper, time–honored values against the ravages of modern society. In six elegant, linked literary essays, Berry considers the degeneration of language that is manifest throughout our culture, from poetry to politics, from conversation to advertising, and he shows how the ever–widening cleft between the words and their referents mirrors the increasing isolation of individuals and their communities from the land. “This skillfully conceived book is one of the strongest contemporary arguments for literary tradition: a challenging credo, un–glib, calmly assured, clearly illuminating—and required reading for those seriously interested in the interplay between literature, ethics, and morality.” —Kirkus Reviews “[Berry’s] poems, novels and essays . . . are probably the most sustained contemporary articulation of America’s agrarian, Jeffersonian ideal.” —Publishers Weekly

Thirteen new stories of the Port William membership spanning the decades from World War II to the present moment For those readers of his poetry and inspired by his increasingly vital work as advocate for rational land use and the right-size life, these stories of Wendell Berry's offer entry into the fictional place of value and beauty that is Port William, Kentucky. Berry has said it's taken a lifetime for him to learn to write like an old man, and that's what we have here, stories told with grace and ease and majesty. Wendell Berry is one of our greatest living American authors, writing with the wisdom of maturity and the incandescence that comes of love. These thirteen new works explore the memory and imagination of Andy Catlett, one of the well-loved central characters of the Port William saga. From 1932 to 2021, these stories span the length of Andy’s life, from before the outbreak of the Second World War to the threatened end of rural life in America.

In 1995, Wendell Berry’s Roots to the Earth was published in portfolio form by West Meadow Press. The wood etchings of celebrated artist and wood engraver, Wesley Bates, were printed from the original wood blocks on handmade Japanese paper. In 2014, this work was reprinted at Larkspur Press, along with additional poems. It is now with great pleasure that Counterpoint reproduces this collaborative work for trade publication, as well as expanding it with the inclusion of a short story, “The Branch Way of Doing,” and additional engravings by Bates. In his introduction to the 2014 collection, Bates wrote: "As our society moves toward urbanization, the majority of the population views agriculture from an increasingly detached position. . . In his poetry [Berry] reveals tenderness and love as well as anger and uncertainty. . . The wood engravings in this collection are intended to be companion pieces to. . . the way he expresses what it is to be a farmer."

“Berry is a superb writer. His sense of what makes characters tick is extraordinary . . . Short stories don't get any better than these.” —People As part of Counterpoint's celebration of beloved American author Wendell Berry comes this reissue of his 1986 classic, The Wild Birds: Six Stories of the Port William Membership. Those stories include “Thicker Than Liquor”, “Where Did They Go?”, “It Wasn't Me”, “The Boundary”, “That Distant Land”, and the titular “The Wild Birds.” Spanning more than three decades, from 1930 to 1967, these wonderful stories follow Wheeler Catlett, and reintroduce readers to the beloved people who live in Berry's fictional town of Port William, Kentucky.

'Do I wish to keep up with the times? No. My wish simply is to live my life as fully as I can' The great American poet, novelist and environmental activist argues for a life lived slowly.

Only a farmer could delve so deeply into the origins of food, and only a writer of Wendell Berry’s caliber could convey it with such conviction and eloquence. Long before Whole Foods organic produce was available at your local supermarket, Berry was farming with the purity of food in mind. For the last five decades, Berry has embodied mindful eating through his land practices and his writing. In recognition of that influence, Michael Pollan here offers an introduction to this wonderful collection.Drawn from over thirty years of work, this collection joins bestsellers The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Pollan, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, as essential reading for anyone who cares about what they eat. The essays address such concerns as: How does organic measure up against locally grown? What are the differences between small and large farms, and how does that affect what you put on your dinner table? What can you do to support sustainable agriculture?A progenitor of the Slow Food movement, Wendell Berry reminds us all to take the time to understand the basics of what we ingest. “Eating is an agriculture act,” he writes. Indeed, we are all players in the food economy.

In twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.From the ravages of the global economy to the great pleasures of growing a garden, Wendell Berry's powerful essays represent a heartfelt call for humankind to mend our broken relationship with the earth, and with each other.Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

Focusing on social justice and economic disparity, this work by Wendell Berry delves into the historical exploitation of marginalized groups that has fueled the prosperity of a select few. Building on themes from his earlier writings, it calls for a deep examination of the interconnectedness of wealth and unpaid labor, urging readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the nation's foundations. Berry's advocacy for the dispossessed is a central theme, emphasizing the need for a more equitable society.

Set in the richly drawn community of Port William, Kentucky, this novel introduces readers to the lives of its citizens, establishing a unique literary landscape comparable to iconic locales like Yoknapatawpha County and Winesburg. Through the story of Nathan Coulter, Wendell Berry explores themes of connection to place, community, and the intricacies of rural life, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the distinctive rhythms and relationships of this memorable setting.

You can give back to nature those raw materials we now regard as "waste." This book, written by a leading authority on appropriate technology, offers homeowner plans for several types of dry toilets, compost privys and greywater systems. Van der Ryn also discusses the history and philosophy of turning organic wastes into a rich humus, linking us to the fertility of the soil and ensuring our ultimate well-being. --- from book's back cover