Farming Biographies

"If I could have one wish it is that every eater in America would read this book." —Ruth Reichl From a pioneer of the regenerative agriculture movement, a memoir-meets-manifesto on betting the farm on a better future for our food, animals, land, local communities, and our climate Raised as a...

After rising from poverty to earn two Ivy League degrees, an Appalachian lawyer pays tribute to the strong “hill women” who raised and inspired her, and whose values have the potential to rejuvenate a struggling region. “Destined to be compared to Hillbilly Elegy and Educated...

“Not since Michael Pollan has such a powerful storyteller emerged to reform American food.” —The Washington Post “Dan Barber's tales are engaging, funny and delicious . . . The Third Plate serves as a brilliant culinary manifesto with a message as obvious as it is overlooked. . . . It's...

Now eighty years old, T. Boone Pickens is a legendary figure in the business world. Known as the “Oracle of Oil,” he built Mesa Petroleum, one of the largest independent oil companies in the United States. When Pickens left Mesa after a downward spiral in the company’s profits, many...

Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Rules, and How to Change Your Mind, explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen in Cooked. Cooked is now a Netflix docuseries based on the book that focuses on the four kinds of "transformations" that occur...

Read by the author. Some people have life all figured out. This book is for the rest of us. Molly Stillman has lived the type of life that when shared, people stop in their tracks and ask “Wait, what happened?” Molly’s mother, Lynda Van Devanter Buckley, served as an Army nurse during the...

A young farmer’s wife draws on her life with kids, cows, and a front-porch view to help us see God’s goodness and beauty wherever we are, reminding us that the simple life is not a place to be but a way to be. “Grab a cup of coffee and join Caitlin on her porch to hear the lessons God...

“A gutsy success story” (The New York Times Book Review) about one tenacious woman’s journey to escape rural poverty and create a billion-dollar farming business—without ever leaving the land she loves The youngest of her parents’ combined twenty-one children, Sarah Frey grew up on a...

“Elegiac, funny, warm and wise, The Wisdom of Sheep will delight country folk and city dwellers alike.” —Katherine May A touching, wise and surprising chronicle of the rich inner lives of animals, drawn from Rosamund Young’s extraordinary lifetime as an organic farmer We talk a lot about...

A young South Asian American woman’s story of reconnecting with her identity, family, and heritage through sustainable farming In 2012, 25-year-old Jackie Moyer—the daughter of a forbidden marriage between a white American father and a Punjabi American mother—leased 10 acres of land in...

AS SEEN ON BBC TWO'S HIT TV-SHOW 'THIS FARMING LIFE' 'A heartwarming tale of life on the land' Alan Titchmarsh 'There's love and loss, challenge and adversity, but above all it's warm, insightful and inspiring' Helen Skelton 'Will inspire any reader to look at the countryside - and all those who...

This audiobook is the personal memoir of an urban couple's journey to farming rather than a how-to guide and is sure to delight those interested in moving to the country or simply learning more about the struggles of sustainable farming. When Tim and Liz Young decided to leave their comfortable suburban life and become first-time farmers in rural Georgia, they embarked on a journey that would change their lives.

"Inspiring"—Danny Meyer, CEO, Union Square Hospitality Group; Founder, Shake Shack; and author, Setting the Table James Beard Award-winning food journalist Kevin Alexander traces an exhilarating golden age in American dining Over the past decade, Kevin Alexander saw American dining turned on...

“Gripping . . . A potent account of the crime and its aftermath, placing its story of heartbreaking violence and injustice in a larger portrait of a rural American town.”—The Wall Street Journal The harrowing true story of a cold-blooded murder and the campaign to bring justice to a...

For readers of The Sum of Us and South to America, an essential new look at the roots of American inequality—and the seeds of its transformation Once the powerhouse of a fledgling country’s economy, the Mississippi Delta has been consigned to a narrative of destitution. It is often faulted...

A humorous and nostalgic journey through 1950s rural Ireland Six-year-old John Paschal suddenly finds himself living in a strange house in a world without running water, radio, or electricity. Then he receives a letter from a mysterious woman who claims to be his mother. Why is Bridie writing to him from Galway when she hadn't written before? As John Paschal tries to come to terms with being "a bastard child" (whatever that is), he discovers the town's legendary characters who will shape his path to manhood: Tommy, the village postman who knows what's in every letter. Harry Ryan, the local ...

This captivating memoir is a “startling testimony to the glories and sorrows of raising and harvesting plants and animals” (Anthony Doerr, best-selling author of All the Light We Cannot See), as an itinerant farmhand chronicles the wonders hidden within the ever-blooming seasons of life...

The year is 2008, and the green rush is taking root in Humboldt County, California. Born and raised in this "Emerald Triangle" famous for its natural beauty and perfect cannabis-growing conditions, Ty Kearns wants no part of it. He has seen too many friends and acquaintances lose or derail their lives for the green dream, always feeling the itch for more cash and more power. But as a college student with tuition to pay—and few options in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression—Ty is willing to try almost anything.

An impassioned memoir of saving extraordinary plants on the brink of extinction, by a scientist who has been called a "codebreaker" (Telegraph) and "an inspiration" (Jane Goodall) Carlos Magdalena is not your average horticulturist. He's a man on a mission to save the world's most endangered...

“An in-depth and compelling account of diverse Americans living off the grid.” —Los Angeles Times The radical search for the simple life in today’s America. On a frigid April night, a classically trained opera singer, five months pregnant, and her husband, a former marine biologist...