The Planter of Modern Life tells the tale of Louis Bromfield, who gave up his writing life and took up farming, producing a cooperative organic farm which became an inspiration for American agriculture. If you're not into farming, this probably sounds quite boring, but in reality the story is truly fascinating, and offers up a biography of a person who was at one time incredibly famous but somehow got a little lost in time. It's such a pleasure to pick up a book and learn so many things in just one place. Lovely.

Thank you to W. W. Norton for giving me a free digital galley of this book in exchange for feedback.

According to the beginning of this biography, Louis Bromfield is mostly unknown outside of northeast Ohio. Well, I'm from northeast Ohio, and I knew exactly who he was when I picked up this book - at least, I thought I did.

I knew that Bromfield was a massively popular, bestselling writer, whose books are now mostly out of print and largely forgotten. I knew that he used his fortune to buy Malabar Farm, a spot in Lucas, Ohio, which I know as a state park that's a nice place to take a hike or meet a friendly farm animal, with a beautiful house that I toured once and have not forgotten.

I was worried it would be boring, since agricultural reform and the minor starlets of the 1930s aren't particular interests of mine, but I wanted to learn about my once-famous neighbor, and so I gave it a try. I'm glad I did, because it was not boring AT ALL, but engaging and fascinating even in the sections that are about agriculture.

The part I connected with most strongly was Bromfield's years in France, socializing with Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald and watching, horrified, at the rise of fascism, a bunch of ludicrous caricatures improbably and inexorably rising to power. Something about that seemed upsettingly familiar in a way that made me feel deeply connected to the distressed artists.

I was fascinated to learn that Bromfield's work inspired Wendell Berry, a writer whose work I couldn't have connected to my adolescent walks at Malabar, but now that I know more about Bromfield, it seems obvious.

This book seems destined to be the biggest bestseller in the gift shop at Malabar Farm, but it's well worth reading even for people who don't live near the farm, because it's the story of a fascinating person who shouldn't be forgotten, even though his writing is out of style and the park that was once his home is in a somewhat obscure corner of Ohio.