For subsistence farmers in eastern Kentucky, wealthy horse owners in the central Bluegrass, and tobacco growers in Western Kentucky, land was, and continues to be, one of the commonwealth's greatest sources of economic growth. It is also a source of nostalgia for a people devoted to tradition, a characteristic that has significantly influenced Kentucky's culture, sometimes to the detriment of education and development. As timely now as when it was first published, Thomas D. Clark's classic history of agrarianism prepares readers for a new era that promises to bring rapid change to the land and the people of Kentucky.

Thomas D. Clark, historian laureate of Kentucky, is the author of dozens of books on Kentucky history, including The People's House: Governor's Mansions of Kentucky. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Reviews:

"Clark in this short, witty, pugnacious book, weaves the rich tapestry of Kentucky's agrarian history into a picture of the state's whole development -its religion, its education, its constitutions. A book worth reading."--Virginia Quarterly Review

"Encapsulates in a highly readable and elegant style the perspective and insights of a remarkable historian."--Nancy O'Malley