The Good Life of
Helen K. Nearing
with
Margaret O. Killinger
In
1932, at the height of the Great Depression, Helen and Scott
Nearing moved from their small apartment in New York City to
a dilapidated farmhouse on 65 acres in Vermont. For over 20
years, they created organic gardens, handcrafted stone
buildings, and practiced living simply on the land. In 1952,
they moved to the Maine coast, where they later built what
became their last stone home. Through their 60 years of
living on the land in rural New England, their commitment to
social and economic justice, their numerous books and
articles, and the time they shared with thousands of
visitors to their homestead, the Nearings embodied a
philosophy that now is recognized as a centerpiece of
America's "Back-to-the-Land" and "Simple Living" movements.
Although both Nearings wrote a variety of autobiographical
works, this is the first comprehensive biography of Helen
Knothe Nearing (1904-1995). Killinger examines Helen's
spiritual formation as a member of the early-20th-century
Theosophical Society, her complex relationship to "old left"
socialist Scott Nearing, and their lives together first in
New York City and later as pioneer homesteaders in Vermont
and then in Maine.
Although deeply respectful of her subject, Killinger brings
to light some of the central paradoxes of Helen Nearing's
life. The Nearings' door was always open despite Helen's
impatience with "company." And her abiding belief in living
the principles of a simple "good life" did not impede her
willingness and ability to market those principles with
great success. As Killinger shows, Helen K. Nearing almost
single-handedly created the Nearing mythos, still very much
a factor in the ongoing interest in this remarkable couple.
Margaret
Killinger earned her PhD in American History from the
University of Maine in 2004 and was awarded Outstanding
Graduate Student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
for her research on Helen Nearing. Dr. Killinger
teaches as an adjunct assistant professor in the Honors
College at the University of Maine. She and her family
live in Orono.
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Reserve a spot!
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Directions to the Thoreau Institute
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Doors open at 7:00 pm for a wine & cheese
reception
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Presentation begins promptly at
7:30 pm.
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$5 suggested donation is appreciated!
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