Wendell Berry, self-styled intellectual, social commentator and purveyor of common sense, authored a biting series of essays on the state of American life and economy, compiled in 1993 under the title Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community. This collection of commentaries on varied aspects of existence as Americans in the emerging global community is worthy of note in many of its accurate criticisms of American waste and pompousness, while laughable in regard to many of its assertions on matters of public policy. As such, one can gather a dual image of Berry as both narrow-minded ideologue and insightful cynic. So, while "Sex..." is certainly an easy read, the same does not apply to its author.

Berry introduces his essays with a preface centered on the value of education and the importance of understanding. It is here that the Kentuckian's backwoods wit shines in all its sarcastic glory. In a hilarious incisive listing of the basic assumptions accepted by most participants in modern "higher" education, Berry cites the system's failures and mocks its current goals. To point out the common understanding of the utility of education as a career tool,

In our separation from community and the land, Berry seems to argue Americans have lost their innate sense of value. Things of real value, soil, air, health, wisdom, community, proper action and right religion, have been replaced by money, possessions, pride, education, opulence and ease. Berry wants a return to correct understanding of the value of our lives and the things with which we fill them. Some might call such longings old-fashioned, but they are more than that, they are effective and imperative for the preservation of society. Maybe that's why old-fashioned values lasted so long, they worked.

Mr. Berry also uses the preface to lie out his complaint against the common attitude toward agriculture. His sarcastic diatribe on food supply is indeed a well-placed criticism of a society that seems to think its food appears simply at the whim of consumers. Here he demonstrates a degree of acumen in analysis of the underlying misconceptions Americans hold with regard to their natural environment.

It is one of Berry's great strengths that he appears greatly and genuinely concerned about the natural environment. In pursuit of a proper recognition of the importance of land, Berry suggests a fundamental shift in the land-use ethic currently practiced by American agricultural and consumer communities. Berry claims that nothing less than a radical shift in our understanding of the value of land and the manner in which we use it is needed in order to preserve a viable future economy and society. Our current approach to land-use, Berry seems to think, is our great national misstep, a costly venture into an untenable and unsustainable system of exploitation.

designed and obtained as a device for monetary profit, is perhaps the master stroke of the work, and Berry's third listed assumption does so masterfully. Also worthwhile is Berry's attack on jargon and its use as a placard of intellectual superiority, though it might be construed as betraying a general ignorance of the value of specialized language in specialized fields. Compounding this rationale is the post script to the preface, in which Berry maligns the supposed value of "

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Approximate Word count = 1448
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)