Letters from an American Farmer & Sketches of 18th-Century America - Penguin Classics | Historical American Literature, Colonial Era Essays | Perfect for History Students & Book Collectors

What can I say? My first glimpse of this fascinating mirror into ordinary colonial American life was while I was bartending at a fancy schmancy restaurant on the upper east side of New York City. A customer working on her disertation for her master's in education was reading it while sipping chardonnay and waiting for her husband to join her.As I passed back and forth, I could not help catching intriguing glimpses of the cover. How, in my quest for knowledge of early American agrarian, culture had I missed this gem? How would the observations of a Franch man compare to those of the incomparable William Cobbett?Her husband was late; she had a second - and a third - glass. Her concentration became a bit wobbly and the book, to my great delight, was finally laid upon the bar, the well worn pages held open with the aid of a handy bread stick, flakes of toasted parmesan cheese adding a bit of superfluous punctuation.I can read upside down (most bartenders can; do not forget this for your future privacy). I had got through several pages on dealing with the manners and customs of Nantucket before her spouse, unfortunatly, arrived. I had been too busy to write down the title at the time (yes, I can read upside down very quickly and in short, accurate bursts). But, thanks to the infinite ways of searching on Amazon, I was soon able to discover the whole title.For those who, like myself, peer through the mirror of history and see ourselves; perhaps our little garden, or spring seedlings, tenderly nurtured, this book is better than any reality show pitting modern man against antiquated inconveniences. It relays the security and the continuity of a job well known and well done.Buy this book. Read this book. You will never again view a plastic wrapped loaf of bread in the same light.