Katz (Wild Fermentations
) strives for total inclusiveness by writing about every challenge to the "chemical-driven agricultural mainstream" he can think of from the protests against genetically modified plants to the fight to legalize unpasteurized milk, with slow food, veganism and supermarket dumpster diving thrown in for good measure. But he addresses the issues in simplistic, agitprop terms, describing a world where the government collaborates with profit-driven corporations to flood the market with unnatural foods that are killing people. Even the criminalization of marijuana is characterized as an act of agricultural hegemony comparable to the Inquisition. Katz wants to challenge this state of affairs with a multicultural agrarian uprising, and writes with moving sincerity about how his own experiences on a queer-friendly commune in Tennessee have shaped his politics. He ends each chapter with a list of organizations to contact for more information, as well as several recipes that exemplify his low-tech, all-natural approach—his pesto, for example, is made from chickweed picked in the wild. At times, the calls to re-embrace mother earth and "cherish the biota in all its glorious diversity" become hyperbolic, but Katz's comprehensive reporting is sure to mobilize any reader on at least one issue. (Dec.)
