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Quote by Jonathan Raban

“From the moment that the first plow blade bit into the crust, the homesteaders began to destroy the foundations of their new life, and in a very few years the crust was gone--used up, scattered, blown away by the dry summer winds.”

Quote by Jonathan Raban

Work

Bad Land: An American Romance

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Author

Jonathan Raban
Jonathan Raban

Jonathan Raban, born on June 14, 1942, is a renowned travel writer from the United Kingdom. His works are known for their unique perspective and profound insights into travel experiences, covering a wide range of regions from Africa to the Americas. Raban's writing style often blends travel literature, history, and philosophy, giving his works a distinct literary value. more

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“The homesteading generation's belief in education created the same Hobson's choice that so many farm families had to face. Children educated to become nurses, teachers, lawyers, pharmacists, insurance agents, doctors or police officers do not in general return to carry the family farm into the future. To use their education, they have to leave home and farming. And to complete this bittersweet irony, their children's success in other occupations were exactly what the homesteader generation had hoped for them. In a phenomenon familiar in both white and Black communities, the farming generation's deep commitment to educating their children produces children who were not, for the most part, interested in farming.”

“When Gene was building his log workshop a few years ago, a helicopter flew over, circling back to the clearing next to our cabin. It was one of the Mirelli boys. Todd Mirelli plunked his chopper down in the clearing, jumped out, and came over to chat. He was building his own log cabin and wanted some tips from Gene. He truly did “drop in,” in the very sense of those words.”