Scott Nearing: An American Radical, and American Homesteader, an American Original

This book is a political biography of Scott Nearing, focusing on his life before his homesteading experience in Vermont. The research and degree of detail that Saltmarsh presents are extensive. In order to allow understanding of the context of Nearing's times, Saltmarsh describes many of Nearing's contemporaries, and goes into great detail about many of the controversies that Nearing stirred up. Original sources are cited in the extensive end notes. The book also includes a few black and white photographs covering Nearing's entire life, a Nearing bibliography, and the list of sources that Saltmarsh used in preparing the book.When I first read Nearing's Living the Good Life, I wondered long and hard about who this Nearing was, and what was his motivation for undertaking such a project. I wasn't sure how to relate to authors who had abandoned an undescribed life in New York City to live in rural Vermont, and when they mentioned that they wrote books for cash, I wondered what kinds of books they wrote- -travel books perhaps? After reading Saltmarsh's biography of Nearing, it made much more sense. Saltmarsh describes what a well known political figure Nearing was, how he was fired from university positions for preaching against child labor and being a peace activist in a time of war. Saltmarsh goes on to describe how Nearing ended up in the Communist party, and then was thrown out for being an independent thinker. This is one of the strongest themes that permeates the book- -how Nearing developed and followed through on his economic and political ideas independently, all with a deep religious basis. With these facts in mind, Nearing's later work becomes even more sensible. One striking aspect of Nearing's early life as a radical was how much freedom of speech and academic freedom on campuses has changed since the time when he was dismissed, perhaps in part due to the battles that he lost. True, we still don't have perfect freedom of speech, but conditions are a lot better now than when Nearing became the American first university professor to lose his job because of his political activity. Looking back, would someone like Chomsky have been able to be so outspoken against the Vietnam War if Nearing hadn't fought his battles for free speech during the First World War?One sad aspect about Nearing's life that comes through in this book is his inability to listen to his own children. Years ago, I read the book Behind the Urals by John Scott, having no idea that John Scott was actually Nearing's son. In Behind the Urals, John Scott describes how he went off to the Soviet Union in the 1930's as an energetic idealist, and how he gradually came to view the Soviet Union in a much different light. In this book, Saltmarsh tells us that Nearing would never accept Scott's criticisms of the Soviet Union. Despite John Scott's 10 years of personal experience in the country, Scott Nearing always thought he knew better. Was this inability to listen to

What does one say about a book that details the life and thoughts of a man who was one of the last of a breed of lions? That this is a wonderful biography, full of fresh impressions of a man who typified what the word "character" means. These days we have plenty of celebrities who are characters, but Scott Nearing had character. Scott Nearing was that rare and precious kind of man who actually stood by what he believed in, making his actions consistent with his beliefs, and doing so paid a terrible price for shouting against the insanity of the 20th century. Were we ever to look for good models to socialize our young with, Scott Nearing would be at the head of the line, standing shoulder to shoulder with other better known men like Gandhi, as wonderful models of what meaningful adulthood can look like. I first learned about Scott and Helen Nearing in the late 1960s from a friend who was interested in learning more about the back-to-the-land movement of subsistence farming. Like many of the other baby boomers infatuated with anything different and unusual, I quickly steeped myself in the lore of the Nearings. What I found has long since fascinated and amazed me. Scott Nearing was an idealistic and outspoken reformer teaching at the University of Pennsylvania before the First World War who was suddenly removed from his position because of his strong and public opposition to the shames of child labor. His long and tortured personal odyssey from the moment of that removal seemed destined to cast him further and further from the center of the political firestorm raging in this country and closer and closer to nature and an alternative lifestyle. Finally by the early 1930s, in the midst of the Depression, he and his young wife Helen arrived in rural Vermont to buy a ramshackle old farm and attempt to live a more deliberative, purposeful, and balanced lifestyle that was consistent with their philosophy and social politics. This is a well-written, accessible and eminently readable book by an academic who has done all of his homework. From interviews not only with Nearing late in his life, but also with many other contacts with everyone from his wife Helen to his sons from his first marriage to a staggering list of luminaries who knew Nearing and his work, Mr. Saltmarsh weaves a substantial and comforting country quilt of a portrait of a man who lived a life of principle with integrity, good humor, and compassion. Scott Nearing stands as a modern American icon from whom we can all learn a better and more satisfying way to approach our own lives and our won personal responsibilities to the wider community surrounding us. This is an absorbing and worthwhile boo, and one many of your friends would come to treasure after being introduced to this Spencer Tracy look-alike who so influenced a whole generation of younger Americans now living the 'good life'. Enjoy.

Reminds me of Scott's widows book which should be read first.It covers their life,even how he chose to die...a form of self-immolation.Saltmarsh has given some new front matter to his title,first published almost 10 years ago...with a quote from Alan Ginsberg..l line accurate portrayal of S.N.,I visited Forest farm after Woodstock.