Logsdon writes about contemporary farming issues with quaint elegance, good humor and rich detail in this novel set in the rustic village of Gowler, Ohio. Ben Bump grows up poor and of immigrant parents, while his boyhood friend Emmett Gowler is from the village founder's affluent family. Logsdon explores different agricultural methods and philosophies that highlight the benefits of Ben's frugal organic approach over Emmett's greedy agribusiness. A few lively subplots-Ben's sister's sparring with Emmett, the defrocking of the local KKK-offset the preachy overtones and the welter of arguments advocating the family farm. Full-bodied characters and the fecund Midwest setting also help to propel Logsdon's narrative about a disappearing way of life. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

*Starred Review* Ben Bump and Emmet Gowler are in high school when Logsdon's chronicle of 45 years of their friendship opens in 1940. Both farm boys, Ben is the son of Austrian immigrants who raised themselves to the middle ranks in their Ohio farm community, while Emmet is the scion of local old money. As the novel moves through World War II and its aftermath, during which agribusiness pushes farmers to get big or get out, the friends' ways of farming diverge. Ben adapts techniques that his father brought from the old country and reasons out other means of avoiding chemicals and heavy machinery to pursue natural farming. Emmet embraces new technology and expands his inheritance of land but also can't help indulging a quixotic entrepreneurial streak now and then. Their loyalty to each other and love of farming endure as war and government farm policy, Wall Street and the Chicago Board of Trade, television and school consolidation relentlessly assault their way of life. Logsdon, author of many books and articles on sustainable farming, enlivens what could have been an issues-heavy tract with humor, pathos, and engrossing agricultural detail. A worthy peer of Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Jungle, and other classic advocacy fiction.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2008 Booklist