Hogs Are Up

"Laced within and around his stories (and digressions. . . in fact, mostly in the digressions), Jackson is continuously throwing out pithy pearls of wisdom. These tiny and imple gems must be heard, then internalized, and after a good deal of introspection you discover that you have encountered the profound."—Resilience

"Through selected anecdotes the author presents a glimpse of his own life experiences. The narrative serves to explain how and why Jackson came to the inspiration for creating The Land Institute as a nonprofit agrarian research facility. Highly recommended."—Choice

“Essays on people, farming, and the environment, all in the unmistakable voice of a Kansas original and one of the country’s foremost environmentalists. Pull up a chair, crack open this book, and soak up these stories. You’ll hear Wes in every word.”—Rex Buchanan, editor of Kansas Geology: An Introduction to Landscapes, Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils and coauthor of Petroglyphs of the Kansas Smoky Hills

“This personal memoir comes from one of Kansas’s most remarkable and important sons—Wes Jackson, an original prairie visionary. It is rich in stories of growing up, failing, and succeeding—a funny, insightful, and vivid account of the changes we have been through since the Great Depression. Above all, learn here how a prophet of change emerged from a small family farm and went on to shake the agricultural establishment to its core.”—Donald Worster, Hall Distinguished Professor of American History, emeritus, University of Kansas

“Hogs Are Up provides the reader with a savory buffet of Wes Jackson writing in the first person: potato picker, football player, handyman, student, professor, and, ultimately, one of the world’s most influential thinkers about the shared fates of humans and ecosystems. This is a book that spins yarns, observes closely, and reports on some significant developments in his life’s quest to marry ecology and agriculture.”—Conn Nugent, former president, Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

“Wes Jackson’s Hogs Are Up is a rich delight, abounding with stories that made me laugh, sigh, and share with the person sitting next to me. I had expected this iconic doer—a so-called turncoat to industrial farming and one who helped lead the way to an agriculture that respects and supports nature—to have much of interest to say about his life, but I didn’t expect that he would be such a fine and appreciative observer of the people around him. Jackson’s optimism for the promise of science and the efforts of humble people as well as his belief in ‘fierce egalitarianism’ and ‘reasonable restraint,’ bolsters our courage for the challenges to come.”—Kristin Ohlson, author of The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet

“Hogs Are Up offers life stories from a rare sort of intellectual in our urbanized, specialized, class-tiered society—one who puts his hands to earth and hammer, considers poetry and science in the same thought, and conducts his work from the homeland he refuses to abandon. Wes Jackson’s wisdom will make you think, and his voice will make you smile.”—Sarah Smarsh, author of Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth and She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs