Radical Homemakers
by Shanon Hayes
This is an excellent book. I read nearly all 276+ pages in about 3 days. The title may be somewhat misleading though. It sounds like it may be about ladies who are looking to improve in what we have come to think "house work" is...nope, not even close. It is teaching the difference between consumer"ism" vs. producer. It's theme is discussing how big business, the industrial revolution and feminism has moved the family out of the home where the family once produced much of what they used for living for themselves. They did not work for "the man" and in most cases lived within communities in which others were also producers so that within the community they were able to find what they needed. Perhaps there is the guy who does iron work and the farmer who has beef, the farmer who produces chickens, sheep and gardens, the guy who blows glass, the guys who cuts hair, etc. People could pass on their skills to put up (can) food, sew, knit and so on.
The book discusses consumerism and the constant message (lies) of the media that is telling us we need this and that and some of those all in the interest of hope...the hope that somehow when I buy their product my life will be changed by owning it. It also covers what others are doing in their everyday lives in order to be less reliant on outside sources for their livelihood. It is such an inspirational book! It really makes you think about where we have come as a society in just a couple hundred years even and what we have been raised to THINK is "the way" things are supposed to be...SO NOT TRUE!
I like to write in my books when I see something in them that I like so I can go back and find it quickly...in this book I underlined almost every page. True, it would be a lot of work to produce for yourself but if you didn't have to go out everyday for 10 hours a day to get money to buy what "they" have produced for you then spent millions of dollars in advertising to you (granted you can't produce all things you're going to need) you would be spending that time at home gardening, canning, sewing, carpentry... What makes it worth more when someone else does it for you??? Nothing, that's a lie.
Anywho, if you've ever thought..."I wish I didn't have to spend my life away from my home and family..." this book is for you to read and think how your life can be different.
I give it a 2 thumbs up!
That's just my 2 cents;)
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