Hathaway, Margaret 1969(?)- (Margaret More Hathaway)

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1969, in Wichita, KS; married Karl Schatz (a photo editor), 2004; children: two. Education: Wellesley College, B.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—ME. E-mail—margaret@yearofthegoat.net.

CAREER:

Writer and journalist. Worked in book publishing in New York, NY. Served as manager of the Magnolia Bakery, Greenwich Village, NY.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fulbright scholar.

WRITINGS:

The Year of the Goat: 40,000 Miles and the Quest for the Perfect Cheese, Lyons Press (Guilford, CT), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and journalist Margaret Hathaway was born in Wichita, Kansas. She earned a degree in English and anthropology from Wellesley College, then traveled to Tunisia on a Fulbright scholarship, where she studied "madness and addiction in the lives and works of American writers in North Africa," according to a biographer on the Year of the Goat Web site. Afterward, she spent several unsettled months in Europe where, among other things, she worked as a dog-sitter in a Paris suburb. After spending more time backpacking through Central and Eastern Europe, Hathaway finally settled in New York City, where she began to reestablish herself as a city-dweller. She spent some time working for a New York-based cookbook publisher, but was unhappy with the experience, the biographer reported. She became the manager of the noted Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich Village, an experience that proved much more to her liking. All the while, she developed her credentials as a freelance writer with numerous independent projects.

As time went on, Hathaway met Karl Schatz, a photo editor for Time magazine, and soon the pair became a couple. Both were well used to city life and found much to like about their Brooklyn home. Gradually, however, they began to feel dissatisfaction with the stresses of New York living, and started wondering what life would be like if they traded in their city identities and became reborn as country folk. The idea of living closer to the natural world appealed to them greatly, as did the possibility of an existence with a greater sense of purpose. The fulfillment of their desire for a more agrarian-based lifestyle was found in an unlikely spot: in the pungent and flavorful form of goat cheese.

Both Hathaway and Schatz were fans of goat cheese, and as their agricultural dreams developed, they entertained ideas of starting a small subsistence farm where they would cultivate vegetables, raise goats, make goat cheese, and live simpler and happier. However, both realized they knew little about farming, less about goats, and were ill-equipped to make such a drastic change in lifestyle. Finally, encouraged by a psychiatrist whom they had been seeing to talk about their goat-based plans, Hathaway and Schatz made the first bold move to bring their wishes together. They decided to set out on a year-long journey of discovery, traveling throughout the United States to find out about farming, about goats, about life on a farm—and to determine if they had the strength of body and will that would be required. In 2004, they embarked on this trip, and in The Year of the Goat: 40,000 Miles and the Quest for the Perfect Cheese, Hathaway recounts the many people met, many goats observed, and many lessons learned as she and Schatz, now her husband, abandoned the city's concrete for the country soil.

Among their many experiences, Hathaway and Schatz visited a goat milk creamery in Appleton, Wisconsin, and a livestock auction in Maine that specialized in selling sheep and goats. They attended the jubilant Goat Days Family Festival in Millington, Tennessee, where 7,000 attendees celebrated goats as a source of food and fun. They observed a Muslim ritual slaughter of goats, which despite its religious characteristics was a harrowing experience for them. They inspected a working goat farm in South Carolina and toured a state-of-the-art veterinary college laboratory specializing in research on goat reproduction. In the end, the couple realized their dream of starting a small goat farm, beginning their family, and finding a simpler, more fulfilling way of living.

Hathaway "has written a fine … book about a most unusual road trip across America," commented Lloyd Ferris in the Portland Press Herald. Entertainment Weekly reviewer Tina Jordan recommended the book for those who have "imagined going back in time to a simpler life." Readers will be "captured by the personal story of a young couple's unusually thoughtful efforts to build a meaningful life together," commented Gillian Engberg, writing in Booklist.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 2007, Gillian Engberg, review of The Year of the Goat: 40,000 Miles and the Quest for the Perfect Cheese, p. 26.

Boston Globe, September 25, 2007, Diana Burrell, "This Couple Just Smiles, and Says, ‘Goat Cheese,’" interview with Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz.

Entertainment Weekly, August 3, 2007, Tina Jordan, review of The Year of the Goat, p. 73.

Internet Bookwatch, February, 2008, review of The Year of the Goat.

Portland Press Herald, September 16, 2007, Lloyd Ferris, "Goat's Not All You Get in Road Trip across America," review of The Year of the Goat.

Publishers Weekly, June 4, 2007, review of The Year of the Goat, p. 44.

ONLINE

Jew & the Carrot,http://jcarrot.org/ (November 5, 2007), Leah Koenig, "Getting Your Goat—An Interview with Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz."

Unset Alarm Clock Web log,http://unsetalarmclock.wordpress.com/ (January 15, 2008), review of The Year of the Goat.

Year of the Goat Web site,http://www.yearofthegoat.net (May 7, 2008), author biography.