Home Economics

The work of Wendell Berry, who has written that "[my work] has been motivated, by a desire to make myself responsibly at home in this world and in my native and chosen place," is the subject of In-Home Economics, a collection of fourteen essays. In these essays, which were originally published between 1978 and 1991, Berry continues to discuss what it means to make oneself responsibly at home. He has also entitled his book In-Home Economics, which reminds us that the very root of economics is stewardship and household management. To paraphrase Confucius, a healthy planet is made up of healthy nations that are simply healthy communities sharing common ground, and communities are gatherings of households. A measure of the health of the planet is economics--the health of its households. Any process of destruction or healing must begin at home. The author argues for clarity in our lives, our conceptions, and our communications.