
The Unsettlers
In Search of the Good Life in Today's America
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Mark Sundeen
-
By:
-
Mark Sundeen
About this listen
The radical search for the simple life in today's America.
On a frigid April night, a classically trained opera singer, five months pregnant, and her husband, a former marine biologist, disembark an Amtrak train in La Plata, Missouri, assemble two bikes, and pedal off into the night, bound for a homestead they've purchased sight unseen. Meanwhile, a horticulturist, heir to the Great Migration that brought masses of African Americans to Detroit, and her husband, a product of the white flight from it, have turned to urban farming to revitalize the blighted city they both love. And near Missoula, Montana, a couple who have been at the forefront of organic farming for decades navigate what it means to live and raise a family ethically.
A work of immersive journalism steeped in a distinctively American social history and sparked by a personal quest, The Unsettlers traces the search for the simple life through the stories of these new pioneers and what inspired each of them to look for - or create - a better existence. Captivating and clear-eyed, it dares us to imagine what a sustainable, ethical, authentic future might actually look like.
©2017 Mark Sundeen (P)2017 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Man Who Quit Money
- By: Mark Sundeen
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Man Who Quit Money is an account of how one man learned to live, sanely and happily, without earning, receiving, or spending a single cent. Suelo doesn't pay taxes, or accept food stamps or welfare. He lives in caves in the Utah canyonlands, forages wild foods and gourmet discards. He no longer even carries an I.D. Yet he manages to amply fulfill not only the basic human needs - for shelter, food, and warmth - but, to an enviable degree, the universal desires for companionship, purpose, and spiritual engagement.
-
-
Roots are weak and faith was thin
- By MISSCHRISTY on 08-26-17
By: Mark Sundeen
-
The Rooted Life
- Cultivating Health and Wholeness Through Growing Your Own Food
- By: Justin Rhodes
- Narrated by: Justin Rhodes
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever wanted to experiment with growing your own food but didn’t think you had the space, the time, or the knowledge? Justin Rhodes thought the same thing—until after years battling systemic illness and struggling to provide the kind of wholesome food he wanted for his family, he bought a seed packet at the grocery store and was hooked.
-
-
Inspiring
- By Amazon Customer on 04-02-22
By: Justin Rhodes
-
The Dirty Life
- On Farming, Food, and Love
- By: Kristin Kimball
- Narrated by: Kristin Kimball
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Kristin Kimball left New York City to interview a dynamic young farmer named Mark, her world changed. On an impulse, she shed her city self and started a new farm with him on 500 acres near Lake Champlain. The Dirty Life is the captivating chronicle of the couple’s first year on Essex Farm, from the cold North Country winter through their harvest-season wedding in the loft of the barn.
-
-
I have mixed feelings about this one...
- By Maria on 01-01-20
By: Kristin Kimball
-
The Unsettling of America
- Culture & Agriculture
- By: Wendell Berry
- Narrated by: Nick Offerman
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since its publication in 1977, The Unsettling of America has been recognized as a classic of American letters. In it, Wendell Berry argues that good farming is a cultural and spiritual discipline. Today’s agribusiness, however, takes farming out of its cultural context and away from families. As a result, we as a nation are more estranged from the land - from the intimate knowledge, love, and care of it.
-
-
love the material, meh on the performance.
- By Fireham on 07-10-20
By: Wendell Berry
-
Folks, This Ain't Normal
- A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World
- By: Joel Salatin
- Narrated by: Joel Salatin
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From farmer Joel Salatin's point of view, life in the 21st century just ain't normal. In Folks, This Ain't Normal, he discusses how far removed we are from the simple, sustainable joy that comes from living close to the land and the people we love.
-
-
Awakened me from my ingnorance
- By matthew on 05-27-12
By: Joel Salatin
-
The New Farm
- Our Ten Years on the Front Lines of the Good Food Revolution
- By: Brent Preston
- Narrated by: Chris Henry Coffey
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brent Preston and his wife were die-hard city dwellers. But when their second child arrived, the shine came off urban living. In 2003 they bought a hundred acres and a rundown farmhouse and set out to build a real farm, one that would sustain their family, nourish their community, heal their environment, and turn a profit. The New Farm is Preston’s memoir of a decade of grinding toil and perseverance. But as they learned how to grow food, and to succeed at the business of farming, they also found that a small, sustainable, organic farm could be an engine for change, a path to a more just and sustainable food system.
-
-
Thank you!
- By Rynette on 09-07-18
By: Brent Preston
-
The Man Who Quit Money
- By: Mark Sundeen
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Man Who Quit Money is an account of how one man learned to live, sanely and happily, without earning, receiving, or spending a single cent. Suelo doesn't pay taxes, or accept food stamps or welfare. He lives in caves in the Utah canyonlands, forages wild foods and gourmet discards. He no longer even carries an I.D. Yet he manages to amply fulfill not only the basic human needs - for shelter, food, and warmth - but, to an enviable degree, the universal desires for companionship, purpose, and spiritual engagement.
-
-
Roots are weak and faith was thin
- By MISSCHRISTY on 08-26-17
By: Mark Sundeen
-
The Rooted Life
- Cultivating Health and Wholeness Through Growing Your Own Food
- By: Justin Rhodes
- Narrated by: Justin Rhodes
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever wanted to experiment with growing your own food but didn’t think you had the space, the time, or the knowledge? Justin Rhodes thought the same thing—until after years battling systemic illness and struggling to provide the kind of wholesome food he wanted for his family, he bought a seed packet at the grocery store and was hooked.
-
-
Inspiring
- By Amazon Customer on 04-02-22
By: Justin Rhodes
-
The Dirty Life
- On Farming, Food, and Love
- By: Kristin Kimball
- Narrated by: Kristin Kimball
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Kristin Kimball left New York City to interview a dynamic young farmer named Mark, her world changed. On an impulse, she shed her city self and started a new farm with him on 500 acres near Lake Champlain. The Dirty Life is the captivating chronicle of the couple’s first year on Essex Farm, from the cold North Country winter through their harvest-season wedding in the loft of the barn.
-
-
I have mixed feelings about this one...
- By Maria on 01-01-20
By: Kristin Kimball
-
The Unsettling of America
- Culture & Agriculture
- By: Wendell Berry
- Narrated by: Nick Offerman
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since its publication in 1977, The Unsettling of America has been recognized as a classic of American letters. In it, Wendell Berry argues that good farming is a cultural and spiritual discipline. Today’s agribusiness, however, takes farming out of its cultural context and away from families. As a result, we as a nation are more estranged from the land - from the intimate knowledge, love, and care of it.
-
-
love the material, meh on the performance.
- By Fireham on 07-10-20
By: Wendell Berry
-
Folks, This Ain't Normal
- A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World
- By: Joel Salatin
- Narrated by: Joel Salatin
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From farmer Joel Salatin's point of view, life in the 21st century just ain't normal. In Folks, This Ain't Normal, he discusses how far removed we are from the simple, sustainable joy that comes from living close to the land and the people we love.
-
-
Awakened me from my ingnorance
- By matthew on 05-27-12
By: Joel Salatin
-
The New Farm
- Our Ten Years on the Front Lines of the Good Food Revolution
- By: Brent Preston
- Narrated by: Chris Henry Coffey
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brent Preston and his wife were die-hard city dwellers. But when their second child arrived, the shine came off urban living. In 2003 they bought a hundred acres and a rundown farmhouse and set out to build a real farm, one that would sustain their family, nourish their community, heal their environment, and turn a profit. The New Farm is Preston’s memoir of a decade of grinding toil and perseverance. But as they learned how to grow food, and to succeed at the business of farming, they also found that a small, sustainable, organic farm could be an engine for change, a path to a more just and sustainable food system.
-
-
Thank you!
- By Rynette on 09-07-18
By: Brent Preston
-
A Wild Idea
- By: Jonathan Franklin
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The incredible true story of the entrepreneur turned conservationist - the founder of the iconic company The North Face who used his fortune to protect more than 25 million acres of land from development and exploitation and “foster peace between people and wild nature”.
-
-
How could I have not known.
- By Nancy B. Bryant on 06-01-23
-
Old-Fashioned on Purpose
- Cultivating a Slower, More Joyful Life
- By: Jill Winger
- Narrated by: Jill Winger, Andrew Eiden
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the pandemic hit in 2020, flour and vegetable seeds flew off the shelves. But homesteader and entrepreneur Jill Winger believes these longings for sourdough bread and fresh veggies are more than a trend. As our society races toward progress, we’ve left something important behind. We are more connected than ever before, yet we’re still feeling unfulfilled. In Old-Fashioned on Purpose, Winger shows how simplifying our lives and adopting retro skills such as gardening and handiwork can be the key to creating the happy and healthy life we’re yearning for.
-
-
A bit disappointed (so far)
- By Leah on 09-27-23
By: Jill Winger
-
Good Husbandry
- A Memoir
- By: Kristin Kimball
- Narrated by: Kristin Kimball
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the celebrated author of the beloved best seller The Dirty Life, Kristin Kimball describes the delicious highs and sometimes excruciating lows of life on Essex Farm - a 500-acre farm that produces a full diet for a community of 250 people.
-
-
She can write but can't read
- By apples on 10-18-19
By: Kristin Kimball
-
Walden
- Life in the Woods
- By: Henry David Thoreau
- Narrated by: Alec Sand
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thoreau's classic account of the solitary life, describing his attempts to simplify his life and sort out his priorities by living alone in a cabin beside Walden Pond for nearly two years, is one of the most influential books ever written. The bible of the environmental movement, Walden vividly portrays Thoreau's reverence for nature, and his understanding of the idea that nature is made up of crucially interrelated parts.
-
-
Excellent book and narration
- By Kindle Customer on 06-14-11
-
Wintering
- The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
- By: Katherine May
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a breakup, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered. Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times.
-
-
I look forward to my next time of Wintering!
- By bgilmore on 01-12-21
By: Katherine May
-
How to Prepare for Climate Change
- By: David Pogue
- Narrated by: David Pogue
- Length: 18 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You might not realize it, but we’re already living through the beginnings of climate chaos. In Arizona, laborers now start their day at three a.m. because it’s too hot to work past noon. Chinese investors are snapping up real estate in Canada. Millennials have evacuation plans. Moguls are building bunkers. Retirees in Miami are moving inland. In How to Prepare for Climate Change, best-selling self-help author David Pogue offers sensible, deeply researched advice for how the rest of us should start to ready ourselves for the years ahead.
-
-
Best climate change handbook
- By Peter R. Valeri on 02-22-21
By: David Pogue
-
Second Nature
- A Gardener's Education
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his articles and in best-selling books such as The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan has established himself as one of our most important and beloved writers on modern man's place in the natural world. A new literary classic, Second Nature has become a manifesto not just for gardeners but for environmentalists everywhere.
-
-
Love Pollan, don't love this (but you might)
- By Mary on 02-05-12
By: Michael Pollan
-
Cache Lake Country
- Or, Life in the North Woods
- By: John J. Rowlands
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over half a century ago, John Rowlands set out by canoe into the wilds of Canada to survey land for a timber company. After paddling alone for several days, he came upon "the lake of my boyhood dreams", which he named Cache Lake because there was stored the best that the north had to offer-timber for a cabin; fish, game, and berries to live on; and the peace and contentment he felt he could not live without.
-
-
A wonderful story
- By Nancy Waldron on 04-25-20
By: John J. Rowlands
-
Frontier Follies
- Adventures in Marriage and Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere
- By: Ree Drummond
- Narrated by: Ree Drummond
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From her beginnings as an early blogger, Ree Drummond has become a household name with a passionate following of devoted fans. On her blog, in her magazine, and on her cooking show, Ree shares recipes, tales of her adventures in the country, and stories of everyday life with her four children and cowboy/rancher husband.
-
-
You're my Ramona 🙃
- By Ry Sei on 03-19-21
By: Ree Drummond
-
Trailed
- One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders
- By: Kathryn Miles
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In May 1996, two skilled backcountry leaders, Lollie Winans and Julie Williams, entered Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park for a week-long backcountry camping trip. The free-spirited and remarkable young couple had met and fallen in love the previous summer while working at a world-renowned outdoor program for women. During their final days in the park, they descended the narrow remnants of a trail and pitched their tent in a hidden spot. After the pair didn’t return home as planned, park rangers found a scene of horror at their campsite.
-
-
Far Too Long
- By Judy on 06-21-22
By: Kathryn Miles
-
Sleeping Beauties
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King, Owen King
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland
- Length: 25 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep: They become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place.... The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease.
-
-
Just pathetic!!
- By Anonymous User on 06-19-18
By: Stephen King, and others
-
Timekeeper
- The Timekeeper Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Tara Sim
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two o'clock was missing. In an alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, a damaged clock can fracture time - and a destroyed one can stop it completely. It's a truth that 17-year-old clock mechanic Danny Hart knows all too well; his father has been trapped in a Stopped town east of London for three years. Though Danny is a prodigy who can repair not only clockwork but the very fabric of time, his fixation with staging a rescue is quickly becoming a concern to his superiors.
-
-
Interesting premise; dull main character
- By WILLARD FRAUMANN on 03-22-18
By: Tara Sim
Critic reviews
What listeners say about The Unsettlers
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sam DeSocio
- 02-06-17
A seriously wonderful book
I very much enjoy this work. At a few points I was confused by stories inside stories, but quickly caught on. This might be the closest thing to a overview of homesteading and counter cultural with an eye to the world context. It was also a beautiful book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 06-25-17
Excellent reporting and reflections!
Backstories were personal and meaningful. Would have been more interesting to use either more narrators or various intonations by one reader.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amely
- 08-31-18
LoVed it. Worth the time. Fresh perspectives
Really enjoyed the full book. Listened to it with my son. It was a refreshing perspective and really made me think about choices that many times get taken for granted.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mona Haydar
- 08-16-17
Excellent. Researched. Relevant.
In depth, personal, well -researched, Sundeen's is a book for our times. He stretches back to the Founding Fathers, through slavery and the Great Depression, and into Reganomics and the death of the family farm. But he does it through three personal, compelling stories. The three couples in the book are what make it a great story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 04-05-21
Honestly moving
An amazing book about amazing people. This book forced me to question my way of life so much that I’m making my boyfriend read it to make sure he wouldn’t be scared-off by the radical changes I plan to implement in my life going forward. If you want a book that’s going to make you a better person, you’ve found it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Angela Farnquist
- 09-21-23
Inspiring!
Listened to this commuting the 75 miles to and from my 9-5 job. As a person who desperately wants to take the plunge and commit to the simple life, this book gave me hope. I smiled and nodded and cheered on Ethan and Sarah, Olivia and Greg, Luci and Steve, and of course, Mark and Cedar. Next stop, Wendell Berry!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Benjamin Ehinger
- 05-09-18
honest real book
worth every penny. one of the most inspiring books I've listened to. everyone should read it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- @THEROOTMATTERS
- 11-17-19
INTERESTING NUGGETS OF INFO WITHIN
"A" for effort towards Mark Sundeen's very own search for his place in todays America. Quirky. As well, Mark Sundeen does offer plenty of views into what some others do in process of locating and staying in place in America, where one may live "the good life".
Personally, I found The Unsettlers more than a bit unsettling. I came away with disappointment, though not with the book. The story of todays America is clearly at issue. Perhaps the problem lies within me, I got too big a bite of reality to chew...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Steph
- 12-04-17
5 stars for the info, ideas, people & stories
I was glad I stuck it out. the narration was not its high point. the stories and people in the book were what I loved and the ideas.. things that made me challenge my own thinking.. made me want to do better, think deeper, try harder.. I have been wanting to start a small scale urban farm plot on my 1 acre in the suburban town and I have dreamed of moving off to an intentional community somewhere so this was a book that really interested me. I don't eat meat, I try to grow what I can, question where things come from, consume less... the no car views were something that made me think WOW there is another step I could take.. but WOW how hard that would really be.. lots of good info and great stories of some very amazing people living lives that truly make a difference.. if only more people did half what these folks did
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazontroll
- 08-19-19
poor experience
struggle to finish. only finished because I ended up using as a sleep aid. very basic parts on beginning were ok, then entire story, narration went downhill real quick. story line was also misconceiveing. not even close to what I was expecting. more like crazy cult people.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful