This volume is the classic sequel to I'll Take My Stand, the famous defense of the South's agrarian traditions. But whereas I'll Take My Stand was theoretical and sectional, Who Owns America? aimed to be concrete and national, and it succeeds. The book evokes and defends in realist, programmatic terms, an America characterized by small-property ownership and responsible stewardship.
What They're Saying...
"The republication of this volume fills a lacuna in the available literature of American political thought, and there is no longer any excuse for theorists of freedom, community, and democracy to neglect the decentralist tradition exemplified by these essays."
— First Things
"As often happens, a profound insight can fall on deaf ears but emerge triumphant decades later. The distributist insight—that human beings will flourish in a system of distributed property, decentralized power, individual liberty, and community responsibility—yet lives. A trip through Who Owns America? offers an intriguing glimpse into an earlier exposition of that theme, redolent of the pleasant scent of magnolia."
— The American Enterprise
"These compelling essays speak across the decades and challenge us to form a society fashioned by the authentic needs of the human person."
— The New Oxford Review
"A fascinating read, reminding us that the really big issues have already been raised-but forgotten."
— Business Ethics
"[A] classic of American social thought."
— Crisis
"[O]bservant and insightful commentaries…"
— Wisconsin Bookwatch
"[T]he wisdom of Who Owns America? is clearer than ever."
— Culture Wars
"This powerful combination of the best Southern Agrarian social critics with some of the brightest lights of English-speaking Catholic localists-known popularly as Distributists, and including in this new volume Douglas Jerrold and Hilaire Belloc-resulted in virtually a new school of thought…. The republication of Who Owns America? is therefore an event of great importance."
— The University Bookman