Malcolm Cowley Book

The book is a mix of farm dairy passages during WWII and editorialized editions from a few years later. It’s interesting that many of the arguments made are still being made today (not abusing the land and soil, the struggles of small family farms to compete with large companies, etc). The political commentary is also interesting (lots of discussion about the New Deal). The comments about black folks not being stupid but just not having been ‘civilized’ properly might have sounded almost progressive to white northerners, but now just sound racist. Without the racism, I’d probably give the book four stars (I found the agriculture parts really engaging) but one can’t ignore parts of a work that we find reprehensible. As a piece of history, it’s worth reading, but only through a modernized lens. I’ve chosen not to rate it at all.