One Man's Meat

The Pulitzer Prize–winning writer and author of Charlotte’s Web documents his move from Manhattan to a saltwater farm in New England: “Superb reading.” —The New Yorker

Called “a mid-20th–century Thoreau” by Notre Dame Magazine, E. B. White’s desire to live a simple life caused him to sell half his worldly goods, give up his job writing the New Yorker’s “Notes and Comment” editorial page, and move with his family to a saltwater farm in North Brooklin, Maine. There, White got into the nuts-and-bolts of rural life—not without a lot of self-reflection—and surrounded himself with barnyard characters, some of whom would later appear in Charlotte’s Web.

One Man’s Meat is White’s collection of pithy and unpretentious essays on such topics as living with hay fever (“I understand so well the incomparable itch of eye and nose for which the only relief is to write to the President of the United States”), World War II (“I stayed on the barn, steadily laying shingles, all during the days when Mr. Chamberlain, M. Daladier, the Duce, and the Führer were arranging their horse trade”), and even dog training (“Being the owner of dachshunds, to me a book on dog discipline becomes a volume of inspired humor”).

Though first published in 1942, this book delivers timeless lessons on the value of living close to nature in our quest for self-discovery. With each subject broached and reflected upon, it “becomes an ardent and sobering guidebook for those of us trying to live our day-to-day lives now” (Pif magazine).

“The most succinct, graceful and witty of essayists.” —San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle

“A lively record of an active inquiring mind.” —Kirkus Reviews