An American Homeplace

A primer on the very best of America. Touching and trenchant, McCaig's tales of rural life offer a richer, deeper glimpse of the American spirit than the dross produced by Hollywood. City dwellers everywhere should read this book to refresh the soul.

The word "essay" envokes thoughts of the dry historical documents that were required reading in school. That is not what Donald McCaig has written here. This book is an interesting collection of true short stories. The first chapter follows the history of the Virginia farm that McCaig and his wife purchased in 1971 and the beginning of their life there. The subsequent chapters describe the rural lifestyle of the McCaigs and their neighbors. There are stories of pleasure and of pain; stories of the hard labor and the simple rewards of farming. There are stories of humans and of animals. The chapter "The Best Four Days in Highland County", a narrative of a Virginia county fair, is the essence of the book, combining all of the elements that make the book, and the lifestyle, so appealing. Because each chapter can stand on its own, the reader can read or re-read each of them individually, and these are tales that deserve to be re-read and savored.