Going Driftless: Life Lessons from the Heartland for Unraveling Times

by Stephen J. Lyons

Overview

Going Driftless is a book that explores a whole world within a world in the upper Midwest and looks at the nostalgia of small towns and local living (eating, shopping, etc.)—and asks how does it work what lessons can we learn from it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493015665
Publisher:	Globe Pequot Publishing
Publication date:	05/01/2015
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Stephen J. Lyons is the author of A View from the Inland Northwest: Everyday Life in America (Globe Pequot) and Landscape of the Heart (Washington State University). He is two-time recipient of a fellowship in prose writing from the Illinois Arts Council and has published articles, reviews, essays, and poems in numerous anthologies and publications, including Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Salon, and High Country News. He lives in Monticello, Illinois. 

Table of Contents

Going Driftless: An Introduction vii

Part I Territories 1

1 The Driftless Region 3

2 Savanna, Illinois 11

3 Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin 18

4 Mississippi River 34

Part II Sustenance 50

5 Rural Hillsboro, Wisconsin 52

6 Decorah, Iowa 59

7 Near La Crescent, Minnesota 69

8 Elgin, Minnesota 75

9 Canoe Creek, Iowa 79

10 Near Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin 83

11 Heritage Farm, Iowa 89

12 Northeast Iowa 102

Part III Communities 112

13 Richland Center, Wisconsin 114

14 Springwater Village, Iowa 125

15 Dancing Waters Permaculture Co-operative, Wisconsin 135

16 Zephyr and Wiscoy Valley Land Cooperatives, Southeast Minnesota 141

17 Viroqua, Wisconsin 150

18 Decorah, Iowa 159

19 Postville, Iowa 170

20 Winona, Minnesota 180

21 Ryumonji Zen Monastery, Near Dorchester, Iowa 188

Gratitude 193

Notes 195

Bibliography 208

Index 211

About the Author 220

Editorial Reviews

Stephen J. Lyons muses on a remarkable region of the U.S. in Going Driftless: Life Lessons from the Heartland for Unraveling Times. 'The Driftless' spans a small area of southwest Wisconsin, northwest Illinois, northeast Iowa and southeast Minnesota. A distinctly unglaciated history defines certain geographic parts, and a network of streams provides variant topography. In these pages, Lyons explores that landscape and the cultural experimentation born there. The remote hills and valleys of the Driftless are uncharacteristic of the Midwest, and these steeper slopes have sheltered alternative lifestyles for decades, from the back-to-the-landers who arrived in the 1970s to naturalists, traditional and organic farmers, artists, musicians and other singular souls living there today. Over several years, Lyons visits various Driftless communities, chatting with their leaders as well as others encountered by chance. He surveys farming and dairy cooperatives, families living off the grid, small business owners, food co-ops, a Zen monastery and successful planned communities. . . .Going Driftless comprises a series of sketches of people, places and organizations, and steers clear of judgment or conclusion in favor of quiet contemplation. Lyons gently suggests near the book's end that these unobtrusive lifestyles have something to offer in unstable times. Discover:An admiring profile of the successful, low-impact communities in a little-known region of the Midwest.— Shelf Awareness

From the Publisher