In the Presence of Fear: Three Essays for a Changed World

It has taken 5 years, but the ideas expressed by Wendell Berry shortly after 9/11 are finally starting to spread. Thought XXIII In the Presence of Fear - " We must not again allow public emotion or the public media to caricature our enemies. If our enemies are now to be some nations of Islam, then we should undertake to know those enemies. Our schools should begin to teach the histories, cultures, arts, and languages of the Islamic nations. And our leaders should have the humility and the wisdom to ask the reasons some of the people have for hating us." As I hear more and more frustration from those caught in the mechanical web of phone tree "service" and the difficulty of having problems addressed by a real person, Berry's call for Local Economies rings loud and true. For the sake of real security, for the sake of community and knowing where your food or other goods come from, for the sake of jobs for our kids, his words should be carefully considered. For fuller treatment of the subjects discussed in these essays, read Wendell Berry's new book, "The Way of Ignorance".

Wendell Berry has set a new high-standard in texts dealing with the events of September 11. In this small collection of three essays, he poignantly and unsentimentally evaluates the source of the "terror" and proposes solutions that deal with its root causes in our own cultural practices. In particular, Berry addresses the very real threat to our democratic tradition posed by the current corporatist ideology and our senseless over-consumption. The destruction of the local economy, replaced with a dehumanizing and wasteful economy of low-quality disposable objects is a primary theme of this text as it is of so much of Berry's writing. He gently admonishes us to imagine a better way of doing things, to ignore the "Captains of Industry who tell us to be realistic". As Berry so wisely says, "reality, it seems, is a limited program" but it does teach us that we should not look for a bird's egg in a cuckoo clock.

This is one of the most lucid, visionary, and authentic reflections on the events of September 11 that exists. But it is much more than that. The second essay, "The Idea of A Local Economy," must be recommended as a masterpiece of contemporary cultural criticism. I recommend this to anyone who cares about our children's future, our grandchildren's future, and anyone who wants to see the tragedy of that bleak autumn day with a clarity and honesty that is entirely lacking in the dominent media.A book for the ages!!!!!

Wendell Berry asks the right questions about the events of a year ago. Along with Noam Chomskey's 9/11, this is a must read.