A Family Place: A Hudson Valley Farm, Three Centuries, Five Wars, One Family

Everyone has a long family line behind them. "A Family Place: A Hudson Valley Farm, Three Centuries, Five Wars, One Family" tells the story of a home that housed one family over the better part of three hundred years. Author Leila Philip presents a tribute to her family's long and illustrious history, revealing a piece of Americana that is hard to replicate. "A Family Place" is of recommended reading for anyone who wants to see the evolution of the American family first hand.

This was a great read for someone interested in the history of the Hudson Valley and the influence of modern development and economics on the landscape. The author grounds the story of her family on this patch of farmland, providing a linkage across the many generations that makes the narrative intersting to those not necessarily interested in typical family history works. She weaves in the influences development pressure and farming economics that broadens the scope of the book into a fascinating insight into the changes we see in the Hudson Valley landscape. The evolution of the apple orchard business alone is interesting and, ultimately, a bit heartbreaking for those of us who like to know we can buy and pick locally grown apples, and hope that we will continue seeing those orchards sprawling over the rolling valley with the Catskills and Taconics framing the background. I don't remember the self-reflection on writing style that other reviewers mention... so clearly they didn't detract from my memory of the book.

Philip will not let us have what we are expecting - a rose-tinted reminiscence of home and place, with the occaisional failure thrown in for good measure. Instead, we get a "widening gyre" of tales, passing spirally through history, through the process of discovering history, the way in which Philip records this history, and ultimately, the way in which we read it. The book is about her home, and yet it is not. It is about personal loss, and yet it is not. It is about the balance between artifacts and memories, and yet -Read the book, but know that its success lies in that it does not simply end with the last page, but recycles back to its own beginning, and to the readers'.

Evocative, elegant account of family history, deftly blending geneology with present day realities. Highly enjoyable read~

After all the books about houses in France and Italy, it's nice to see a truly American story about a house and the family that has owned and loved it for nearly 200 years. Philip deftly interweaves the personal and the historical into a memorable narrative. Although nonfiction, the book's flow and vivid descriptions make it read like almost like a novel. Talvera may be the most interesting American country house since Tara.