Review of Henry

This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parable--the style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.

Briefly, Henry and the Great Society is the story of Henry, a man living in a cultural cul-de-sac, pursuing a way of life that was perhaps a hundred years behind the times, and what happens to him when modern living suddenly becomes a possibility. A series of seemingly inconsequential decisions, each one apparently beneficial in itself, inexorably destroys the self-sufficient, productive, peaceful, and satisfied Henry, transforming him into a thoroughly modern man--dependent, debt-ridden, unhealthy, overworked, worried. Henry's family is destroyed as his wife and children find lives to live outside the home.

Because H.L. Roush barely fleshes out the characters of Henry, his wife Esther, and his children, it is that much easier for the reader to project himself into the story. Every time Henry takes another step away from agrarianism and towards The Great Society, your heart sinks and you want to shout out a warning--Don't do it, Henry! Don't you see what a high price you'll pay for such a trivial gain?--but all the while you know that you were just as prone to Henry to have chosen the same path. In fact, you're much further

down that path, due to your own choices and the choices of those that went before you. You are fully immersed in the life of dependence and specialization and wage-slavery that Henry is steadily inching towards, and so you know exactly how much Henry is throwing away, exactly what sort of bondage he is selling himself into.

We recommend that you stop reading the book at the end of Henry's story (p. 86). You won't want to, because the ending is very bleak and you will be looking for some respite from the story, something to encourage you. Unfortunately, the final part of the book consists of H.L. Roush's theological reflections on the story, and for the most part they aren't edifying. Best to think through the story yourself, perhaps even read it to your children, and together as a family consider what went wrong for Henry, how he might have avoided the downward spiral, and what lessons can be applied to your own circumstances.

Here is a review of Henry and the Great Society by Chad Degenhart. You can find this post on his weblog House of Degenhart, together with a worthwhile discussion by other folks who have read the book.

Henry and the Great Society is definitely not the feel-good story that Heiland is. If you've ever felt like you were caught in the rat race, caught on a treadmill, too busy, unfulfilled, overworked, or a slave to your job or your debts, you should read this book. If you've ever been on a camping trip to "get away from it all", or visited a rural countryside, a scenic mountain range, or lush wilderness, and said "Now this is God's country", you should read this book. I can't recommend it highly enough. Some people will read it and have no idea what its about. Others will read it and get angry or exasperated. But for a few of you, this book will touch your heart and wrench your gut at the same time. While it may depress you just a little, the next feeling that you might have is a compelling desire to buy the book in bulk to distribute to everyone you know.

My question for everyone that empathizes with Henry is--what should he have done? And further, what should we do to avoid his fate? One of the differences I see in Henry and Heiland is that Heiland built family and community, and Henry lost those things