Berry, W. (1973). Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front: The Country of Marriage.

New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. In B. McKibben (Ed.), American Earth: Environmental writing since Thoreau (505-506). New York, NY: The Library of America. Even the most selective reader would do well to discover Wendell Berrys Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front. Packed with one line insights, the works poetic form leaves a great deal for imaginative interpretation. Berry beseeches us, as soon as the generals and politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it (p. 506). A rapid series of statements is made in this short piece, ranging from theological to political and economic imperatives. Through encouragement of behavioral and attitude or outlook alterations, Berry points out what appear to be flaws in conventional wisdom while offering reasonable reactions to the contemporary status quo. Without prior knowledge of Berrys underlying philosophy, a first glance at this writing would be best cast as though viewing a work of art. Each seemingly disparate sentence or line comes together through unstated connections to form a rather coherent argument. A convincing effort to alter the patterns of thought and action previously embraced by readers holds the rambling words together. Less a statement identifying a Mad Farmer and their declaration of position (in the traditional sense of a manifesto) this is more an outline of how such a person ought to think or act. In an abstract manner Berry is pointing out fundamental issues existing in the post-modern era. The call to praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed, brings to mind the pace at which mountains are demolished in Appalachia upon the discovery of coal deposits and the catastrophic ecological impacts of tar sands oil extraction in Alberta, Canada (p. 505). The initial lines are a sketch of life in the mainstream society of our time, put forth in unappealing terms: when they want you to die for profit, they will let you know (p. 505). Knowledge of nuclear meltdowns such as Fukushima, Japan in 2011 provides relevance for such statements in todays world. From here Berry puts forth desired undertakings, while implying the shortfalls to be foregone. Positive change requires embracing a picture of what better could look like, rather than dwelling on undesirable circumstances, Berry seems to profess.