“Nan turned to see Ben’s faceturn as hard and white as asauerkraut crock. When he didnot respond, Nan figured thathe was just going to back offas he usually did, the shy andretiring husbandman. She didnot know her history. She didnot know that shy and retiringhusbandmen have been knownto revolt against oppressionwith pitchforks drawn.”
— The Last of the Husbandmen
In The Last of the Husbandmen, Gene Logsdon looks to his own roots in Ohio farming life to depict the personal triumphs and tragedies,clashes and compromises, and abiding human character of American farmingfamilies and communities. From the Great Depression, when farmers tilledthe fields with plow horses, to the corporate farms and government subsidyprograms of the present, this novel presents the complex transformation of alivelihood and of a way of life.
Two friends, one rich by local standards, and the other of more modest means,grow to manhood in a lifelong contest of will and character. In response tomany of the same circumstances—war, love, moonshining, the Klan, weather,the economy—their different approaches and solutions to dealing with theirsituations put them at odds with each other, but we are left with a deeper understanding of the world that they have inherited and have chosen.
Part morality play and part personal recollection, The Last of the Husbandmen is both a lighthearted look at the past and a profound statement about the present state of farming life. It is also a novel that captures the spirit of those who have chosen to work the land they love.