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Beyond the Forested Ridge
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by:
ISBN:
0-7414-5827-6
©2010
Price:
$13.95
Book Size:
5.5'' x 8.5''
, 207 pages
Category/Subject:
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
An emeritus academic describes other times in the rural West, educational plateaus, years of involvement around the world, dynamics of university life, search for faith and social justice and challenges of aging.
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Abstract:
An emeritus academic relates additional accounts of life and times in many lands. Early days on the Dakota prairie lead to years on the land in rural Idaho. Higher education brings opportunities in foreign trade and voluntary agency work taking the author and family members on multiple assignments abroad.
Advanced studies in Arizona and South Africa lead to a university career of nearly three decades embracing work in rural development and agricultural exports in Washington State and around the world. Further overseas residence brings additional exposure to cultures and settings in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
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Customer Reviews
 
Evocative Americana
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02/24/2010
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Reviewer:
Claire Youmans
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Here's the disclaimer: David Youmans is my uncle, and a darned good one.
He's also a darned fine essayist. I found this book waiting for me when I got home, and I can't put it down. It's not just that much of it is about my family -- well, all of it is, really, because much of it reflects the experiences of my uncle and aunt during their extensive travels and continually interesting lives, much of which was previously unknown to me -- but because Beyond the Forested Ridge reveals a first-hand view of an America that is vanishing even as it does so: the era of the family farm.
This major societal change is nicely presented through the personal experiences of one member of one family in the northwest of the United States, a family as typical of its era as it is unique in its members. For this reason alone, Beyond the Forested Ridge is a valuable reflection of and upon a part of American history that is to date largely unrecorded and unexamined.
It won't just make you think, though. It will also make you smile and warm your heart.
I hope there's a third book on the way.
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01/06/2011
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Reviewer:
Cynthia C. Ripp
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Have you ever wondered while listening to the most recent "spin" on the world news what a normal person going through that experience might tell you if you could get away from the TV commentator?
Well, look no further for reactions from an impartial viewpoint, because David Youmans is that person. His observations are recorded in this, his second book. Part nostalgia and travelogue, part inspiration and commentary, this sometimes humorous, always insightful mix of essays covers a large and varied territory of time and geography. Due to his multiple exposures to the peoples and cultures of Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, he is in a unique position to tell us his experience of the world.
He does not lecture, so much as stimulates our thought processes. He does not preach, so much as he causes us to ask the moral questions of ourselves. This gem, only 207 short pages, is long on discerning observations. "Beyond the Forested Ridge" provides us with an eclectic and thought-provoking armchair glimpse of David Youmans' world and ours, past and present, far and near.
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What an enjoyable ride
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07/08/2012
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Reviewer:
Leif Salvesen
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A travel writer can take you to places you’ve never been to and people you’ve never met and unlikely ever to, a philosopher can attempt to enter your mind with thoughts and ideas you never thought to utter or even wonder about, an historian might try to educate you with facts, dates and for free, throw in an opinion or two, well David Youmans does a little of all of that in “Beyond the Forested Ridge” and an earlier book, “Wherever Home Is”. I say, little, because his essays are seldom more than two pages. Paraphrasing of what’s been said of singer, John Boutte’, ‘David writes just so darn good that he can write it relatively straight. He doesn’t out-write the message with a lot of extra words, he can, but he doesn’t have to and he doesn’t want to.’ His essays ring out with clarity and wisdom.
His books merit a wider readership. I came upon his writings by reading a short review of his book in the Thunderbird Magazine (I went to the same school, Thunderbird, School of Global Management, as the author, five years later) and thought I’d give it a go. I was richly and happily rewarded and I eagerly await his next book.
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