Introduction: My friend's book / by Wendell Berry -- The problem of agriculture -- Stewards of the land -- The earth in review : the rise, role, and fall of soil -- The religious dimension -- Homecoming -- The problem -- Visions and assumptions -- Nature as measure -- Becoming native to our places -- Developing the courage of our convictions -- The information implosion -- Old Salsola -- Pre-Copernican minds of the space age -- Land wisdom vs. lab success -- Living nets in a new prairie sea -- Oracles, prophets, and modern heroes -- Falsehoods of farming -- Toward a common covenant -- Making sustainable agriculture work -- From the margin -- The next synthesis.