New Pioneers: The Back-to-the-Land Movement and the Search for a Sustainable Future

This is a fascinating study of the individuals and groups who are drawn to the roots of urban civilization, complete with romantic misconceptions, hard-edged political values, escapes from the rat race, and the appeal of nature.-Bloomsbury Review"Jeff Jacob has uncovered something of tremendous importance to homesteading as a movement. . . . I wish everybody would read New Pioneers. Homesteading would gain instant credibility, and even respectability. . . . Since that is probably impossible, I'd settle for seeing every Countryside reader reading this book."-Jd Belanger, Countryside editor "This book is the work of a sociologist, and the academic conventions of this profession are readily visible, including tables, analysis, data and scholarly attention to detail. The overall effect, however, is not the boring treatise one might expect. Instead, the author delivers a lively work that is more a trade title on homesteading than a research report. This is a fascinating study of the individuals and groups who are drawn to the roots of urban civilization, complete with romantic misconceptions, hard-edged political values, escapes from the rat race, and the appeal of nature. As much as is possible with this social segment, descriptions and measurements are included, as well as individual anecdotes-sometimes humorous, sometimes grim- that put life and meaning into the search for agrarian fulfillment."-Bloomsbury Review"New Pioneers is the only book to address the back-to-the-land movement in anything other than a subjective and anecdotal fashion. Anyone who is interested in or who has experienced the movement will be fascinated by Jacob's findings."-Angus Wright, author of The Death of Ram n Gonz lez "This study will help elucidate the continuing movement away from the frenetic pace and products of capitalistic industrialism."-Publishers Weekly "[P]ractically everyone I know is nursing fantasies about escaping the life they're trapped in and creating one that ma