Tobacco Harvest: An Elegy

by Wendell Berry, James Baker Hall (Photographer)

Overview

With his striking photographs, James Baker Hall powerfully conveys the physical experience of a Kentucky tobacco harvest. He captures the process from the tractor ride out to the field, where rows of tobacco stretch toward the horizon, to the careful, precise cutting of each individual plant, and finally, to hauling the crop away and housing it in the barn. Hall's snapshots of the "gathering of many hands" who come to help and the time-honored practices of the harvest capture the end of an era.

Hall's stunning work is accompanied by an essay from Wendell Berry, which provides an insightful meditation on the shifting nature of humans' relationships with the land and with each other. Berry laments the economic, political, and societal changes that have forever altered Kentucky's rich agricultural traditions. He adds a deeply personal perspective to Hall's eloquent visual testimony, sharing memories of stories told, laughs shared, meals savored, and brief moments of rest and refreshment well earned.

Tobacco Harvest: An Elegy is a candid portrait of a bygone way of life—a time before cheaper tobacco imported from abroad and a public awareness of the health risks associated with tobacco use nearly destroyed the industry in the United States. Berry's words and Hall's photographs offer an understanding of the high standards and perfectionism required to produce a good harvest, as well as a glimpse of the hot sun, the dirt, and the people hard at work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813187235
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	07/12/2022
Pages:	102
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.48(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James Baker Hall (1935–2009), Kentucky's poet laureate for 2001, was the author of many books including The Total Light Process and Yates Paul, His Grand Flights, His Tootings. Wendell Berry is a poet, a novelist, a farmer, and a conservationist.. His books include The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, Jayber Crow, Two More Stories of the Port William Membership, Life Is a Miracle: An Essay against Modern Superstition, and Harlan Hubbard: Life and Work.

Table of Contents

Essay: By Wendell Berry
Photographs: By James Baker Hall
Photograph Identifications

Editorial Reviews

Environmentalists, rural sociologists, and cultural researchers should examine this book and take it to heart. This work provokes reflection on the creation of social and cultural meaning and continuity.

Journal of American Folklore

Hall's photographs work well to say what words can merely describe: tobacco farming was hard work; it was work that allowed people to survive.

Coffee Talk Quarterly

This collaboration between two of the state's most important artists is an invaluable historical record and a consummate work of art.

Ed McClanahan

"The amazing talents of Hall and Berry combine to address a subject that is important to them, and through their efforts, important to many others." — Chevy Chaser

"It is so pertinent to a traditional state icon that Virginians will want to take a look at it." — Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Does not fail to capture the storytelling and socializing the workers enjoyed as they labored over their tobacco crop." — Agricultural History

"A beautiful tribute to a way of life which has all but disappeared." — Appalachian Heritage

"Hall's photographs work well to say what words can merely describe: tobacco farming was hard work; it was work that allowed people to survive." — Coffee Talk Quarterly

"These photographs powerfully convey the physical experiences of a Kentucky tobacco harvest: the heat of the sun, the dirt, and the people hard at work. Berry's accompanying essay adds a deeply personal perspective to Hall's eloquent visual testimony." — Kentucky Alumni

"An elegy often is sad or mournful, but the pictures and words in Tobacco Harvest also are uplifting." — Lexington Herald-Leader

"Documents the beginning of the end for tobacco farmers in our country.... The scenes of workers cutting and putting up tobacco leaves are timeless, and in many parts of our country, the work continues unabated. But as Berry's essay makes clear, such a life is on its way out." — Watauga Mountain Times

"Environmentalists, rural sociologists, and cultural researchers should examine this book and take it to heart. This work provokes reflection on the creation of social and cultural meaning and continuity." — John B. Wolford, Journal of American Folklore

From the Publisher