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Summary
Summary
Why would a successful American physician choose to live in a twelve-foot-by-twelve-foot cabin without running water or electricity? To find out, writer and activist William Powers visited Dr. Jackie Benton in rural North Carolina. No Name Creek gurgled through Benton's permaculture farm, and she stroked honeybees' wings as she shared her wildcrafter philosophy of living on a planet in crisis. Powers, just back from a decade of international aid work, then accepted Benton's offer to stay at the cabin for a season while she traveled. There, he befriended her eclectic neighbors -- organic farmers, biofuel brewers, eco-developers -- and discovered a sustainable but imperiled way of life.
In these pages, Powers not only explores this small patch of community but draws on his international experiences with other pockets of resistance. This engrossing tale of Powers's struggle for a meaningful life with a smaller footprint proposes a paradigm shift to an elusive "Soft World" with clues to personal happiness and global healing.
Author Notes
For over a decade William Powers has led development aid and conservation initiatives in Latin America, Africa, and Washington, DC. He is the author of two critically acclaimed memoirs about his time in Africa and South America, Blue Clay People and Whispering in the Giant's Ear . His writings on global issues have appeared in the New York Times , the Washington Post , the Atlantic , Slate , and the Sun . A popular speaker and senior fellow at the World Policy Institute, he lives part-time in New York City.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Powers (Blue Clay People) refers to "wildcrafters," people who shape their inner and outer worlds to the flow of nature, as heroes. Among these wildcrafters is Dr. Jackie Benton, a physician who lives in a 12'x12' dwelling in the midst of 30 acres on No Name Creek in rural North Carolina. Benton lives a sustainable life off the grid by raising honeybees, growing her own vegetables and preserving them, and harvesting what she might need from the woods around her. As Powers points out, Benton seems to have achieved self-mastery in these confusing times, and his initial meeting with her is a search for clues to this self-mastery. After the two meet, Benton's sobering and often hilarious (taking showers in rain water warmed by the sun, learning that in order to eat chicken for dinner, he himself would have to kill a chicken given to him by his neighbors) narrative of his life in the 12'x12' offers precious insights into the ways that all individuals living in a fast-paced consumer culture might incorporate different ways of thinking about the natural world into their lives. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Take four giant steps forward. Turn right; do it again. Turn right again; repeat. Right; repeat. Now imagine living in a space roughly the size of the area just paced off. Without electricity or running water. In the middle of nowhere. Having recently returned from years in the Bolivian rain forest, environmental activist Powers experienced a nearly debilitating form of culture shock upon his reentry into the heart of American consumerism. His salvation came from ardent permaculturist Dr. Jackie Benton, who offered Powers the use of her spartan cabin in rural North Carolina. Living among other wildcrafters organic farmers, furniture artisans, and eco-developers Powers learned firsthand what it means to be self-sufficient in the midst of a nation that profligately squanders its resources and looks askance at those who choose to live deliberately. While there are no easy answers to be found in such an extreme experiment, Powers' eloquent memoir reveals the breadth of this conflict and the depth of one man's commitment to himself and his community.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
The American dream has entered a period of potential transformation brought about by the economic crisis. What was once the assumed goal-nice house, fancy (gas-guzzling) car, pantry overflowing with packaged food-has been shaken by Americans who now wonder, "Do I really need all this?" In this modern-day Walden, Powers (Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa's Fragile Edge) enters his own cabin in the North Carolina woods to live deliberately. Residing in a 12' x 12' shed without electricity or running water, Powers spends a spring reflecting on idleness, development, land use, and his own work in developing countries. Throughout this process, Powers narrates his path from repulsion to acceptance of a life with a small footprint. Verdict Powers combines environmental writing in the vein of Thoreau with Zen, economics, warrior presence, and even a touch of dramas of the heart to present a holistic view of contemporary deliberate living. Readers interested in a simpler and more sustainable lifestyle will enjoy the flowing prose and concrete thoughts as they reflect on their own American dream.-Jaime Hammond, Naugatuck Valley Community Coll. Lib., Waterbury, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.