SALE, Kirkpatrick 1937-

(J. Kirkpatrick Sale, John Kirkpatrick Sale)

PERSONAL: Born June 27, 1937, in Ithaca, NY; son of William M. and Helen (Stearns) Sale; married Faith Apfelbaum (an editor; deceased), 1962. Education: Attended Swarthmore College, 1954–55; Cornell University, B.A., 1958.

ADDRESSES: Home and office—127 E. Mountain Rd., Cold Spring, NY 10516.

CAREER: Journalist, editor, writer, and environmental activist. New Leader, New York, NY, associate editor, 1959–61; San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA, and Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, foreign correspondent, 1961–62; University of Ghana, Legon, lecturer in history, 1963–65; New York Times Magazine, editor, 1965–68; author and lecturer, 1968–. Member of board of directors, Project Work, 1971–75, School for Living, 1978–82, Learning Alliance, 1985–97.

MEMBER: Association for Workplace Democracy (board of directors, 1976–80), E.F. Schumaker Society (board of directors, 1980–), PEN American Center (board of directors, 1977–92).

AWARDS, HONORS: Sudhir Hendre Ecology Award, for Human Scale, 1990; named an Utne Reader "visionary," 1995.

WRITINGS:

(As J. Kirkpatrick Sale) The Land and People of Ghana, Lippincott (Philadelphia, PA), 1963, revised edition, 1972.

SDS, Random House (New York, NY), 1973.

Power Shift: The Rise of the Southern Rim and Its Challenge to the Eastern Establishment, Random House (New York, NY), 1975.

Human Scale, Coward (New York, NY), 1980, 2nd edition, Putnam (New York, NY), 1982.

Dwellers in the Land: The Bioregional Vision, Sierra Club Books (San Francisco, CA), 1985.

The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy, Knopf (New York, NY), 1990.

The Green Revolution: The American Environmental Movement, 1962–1992, Hill & Wang (New York, NY), 1993.

Rebels against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution: Lessons for the Computer Age, Addison-Wesley (Reading, MA), 1995.

The Fire of His Genius: Robert Fulton and the American Dream, Free Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Why the Sea Is Salt: Poems of Love and Loss, Iuniverse (Lincoln, NE), 2001.

After Eden: The Evolution of Human Domination, Duke University Press (Durham, NC), 2006.

Contributor to books, including America's Troubles, edited by Howard Freeman and Norman Kurtz, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1969; Espionagem Politica, Publicacoes Dom Quixote, 1973; Watergate, edited by David C. Saffell, Winthrop, 1974; The CIA and World Peace, Free Press (New York, NY), 1976; The Green Reader, edited by Andrew Dobson, Mercury House, 1991; and The Best of the Nation, edited by Victor Navasky and Katrina vanden Heuvel, Nation Books, 2000. Contributor to periodicals, including Nation, New Republic, Dissent, Ecologist, Terra Incognita, Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, William and Mary Quarterly, Adbusters, Futurist, Village Voice, New York Review of Books, Ramparts, Southern Exposure, University Review, New York Times Magazine, Evergreen Review, WIN, Harvard Political Review, Mother Jones, Next, Working Papers for a New Society, Green Revolution, Commonweal, Resurgence, and New Roots. Editor, Transactions of Ghana Historical Society, 1963–65; contributing editor, Nation, 1986–.

SIDELIGHTS: "Something is deeply wrong with America," says Kirkpatrick Sale in Human Scale, his commentary on the state of modern society. Among the problems Sale lists are the deterioration of the environment, the threat of nuclear destruction, the rising rates of divorce, mental illness, suicide, violence, and promiscuity, the growing sense of powerlessness, alienation, and apathy, and the square tomato. The title of Human Scale was derived from Sale's solution to these societal woes. Society has grown too large, too fast, says Sale, and our bodies and minds can no longer bear the pressures that our fast-paced, over-crowded, technologically complex lifestyles have placed on them. Therefore, Sale proposes, Americans must return to life on a "human scale," dismantle "all the large-scale systems that one way or another have created or perpetuated our current crises, and [replace them with] … smaller, more controllable, more efficient, people-sized units, rooted in local circumstances and guided by local institutions."

Human Scale was praised by critics for its identification of the underlying problem of our current system. Sale's "analysis of the evolution of modern economic and governmental centralization is sturdy," commented Phil Freshman in the Los Angeles Times Book Review. "He convincingly shows how overgrowth has been the ruin of most ancient and modern powers. And he competently marshalls the statistics and anecdotes that best illuminate the kinds of trouble our own addiction to size has begotten." "You would have to be blind to bristle at this book's guiding notion," Freshman continued. "But you would have to be Candide's next of kin to swallow Kirkpatrick Sale's wholesale cure for our condition." Although New York Review of Books critic Andrew Hacker questioned the ability to bring society back to a human scale, he recognized that "in one unintended way, Human Scale makes a very convincing case. The book weighs in at 558 pages, bulging with quotations and statistics, summaries of studies and paragraph-long lists. Some readers may feel they lack the stamina for a book of this scale. Yet it may be that Sale feels he needs all these facts and figures to reach his audience, who would dismiss a terser essay as much too simpleminded. If that is the case, it shows we have become captive to the premises of an overscaled society: that in a world grown so complex, analysis must be elaborate to offer comprehension."

In The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy the author discusses Columbus and his impact on America. "To Kirkpatrick Sale, he was rapacious, homicidal, very likely insane," wrote Gregory McNamee in the Whole Earth Review. An Economist contributor felt that the author may have gone too far in his description of Columbus as representing all that was evil in Western conquest, but the critic nevertheless noted that the author "is an invaluable guide and teacher." A Publishers Weekly, contributor felt that the book "represents a major rethinking of the relationship between Europe and America."

An active environmentalist, Sale is also the author of The Green Revolution: The American Environmental Movement, 1962–1992, which outlines the history of environmentalism in the United States, beginning with the publication of Rachel Carson's groundbreaking book Silent Spring. The author also discusses his own views on environmentalism. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the book "a brief but effective survey."

Sale looks at Luddism in his book Rebels against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution: Lessons for the Computer Age. Here he details the famous Luddite uprising against industrialism in the early 1800s, as new machines were putting people out of work. The Luddites were eventually captured by the army, tried, and given severe punishments. "Historians have generally dismissed the Luddites as mere reactionaries," reported Lane Jennings in the Futurist. "But Sale … reinterprets the movement as a powerful and moving protest aimed at the fundamental evils of industrial capitalism and high technology." Jennings also commented, "Sale does a great service in reminding us that industrialism has not been universally welcomed; at certain times and places it has been fiercely resisted—even to the death." In a New Statesman review, Alun Howkins concluded, "Sale's account of the Luddites' doomed and often tragic movement is powerful, well constructed, and it makes much academic material available to a wider audience."

With The Fire of His Genius: Robert Fulton and the American Dream, Sale recounts the life of the father of the American steamboat business and discusses how Fulton's North River steamboat played a crucial role in the expansion of America and the American Industrial Revolution. "Kirkpatrick Sale has succeeded in bringing forth another thoughtful and hugely entertaining biography that successfully readdresses earlier inaccurate and often romantic treatments" of Fulton, according to Joseph G. Mattingly, Jr., and James P. Herson, Jr., in the Defense Transportation Journal. The reviewers went on to note that "Sale's efforts at illuminating Fulton's public persona and private life properly brings the human dimension to the fore in what could have merely been a technological treatise." Dale Farris, writing in the Library Journal, called the book a "superb, beautifully written historiography."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Sale, Kirkpatrick, Human Scale, 2nd edition, Putnam (New York, NY), 1982.

PERIODICALS

America, January 31, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 78.

American Enterprise, Eric L. Marti, review of Rebels against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution: Lessons for the Computer Age, p. 88.

American Historical Review, June, 1974, review of SDS, p. 911; February, 1992, Woodrow Borah, review of The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy, p. 156.

American Journal of Sociology, March, 1975, review of SDS, p. 1275.

American Political Science Review, September, 1974, review of SDS, p. 1338.

American Quarterly, December, 1997, Paul Lindholdt, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 866.

Amicus Journal, spring, 1996, Phillip Johnson, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 45.

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, September, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 159.

Atlantic, July, 1973, review of SDS, p. 98; December, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 116.

Audubon, November, 1993, review of The Green Revolution: The American Environmental Movement, 1962–1992, p. 126.

Biography, spring, 2003, Stephen H. Cutcliffe, review of The Fire of His Genius: Robert Fulton and the American Dream, p. 359.

Booklist, December 15, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 536; November 1, 1985, review of Dwellers in the Land: The Bioregional Vision, p. 361; October 15, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 373; July, 2001, David Rouse, review of The Fire of His Genius, p. 1963.

Book World, April 1, 1990, review of Human Scale, p. 9; October 7, 1990, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 5; July 25, 1993, review of The Green Revolution, p. 13; July 23, 1995, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 8.

Business and Society Review, spring, 1981, review of Human Scale, pp. 75-76.

Business Week, January 12, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 11.

Choice, September, 1973, review of SDS, p. 98; September, 1973, review of SDS, p. 1048; March, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 106; March 1, 1986, review of Dwellers in the Land, p. 47; March, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 68; January, 1992, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 703; April, 2002, T. S. Reynolds, review of The Fire of His Genius, p. 1443.

Christian Century, January 21, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 53; November 20, 1991, Martin E. Marty, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 1105.

Christian Science Monitor, May 23, 1972, review of SDS, p. 11; May 27, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 23; July 14, 1980, Tom O'Brien, review of Human Scale, p. 13.

Commentary, November, 1973, review of SDS, p. 94; May, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 94; July, 1995, Daniel J. Silver, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 33.

Commonweal, December 14, 1973, review of SDS, p. 302.

Contemporary Review, September, 1992, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 136.

Contemporary Sociology, May, 1976, review of SDS, p. 331; July, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 482.

Cresset, January, 1978, review of Power Shift, p. 24.

Defense Transportation Journal, February, 2002, Joseph G. Mattingly, Jr., and James P. Herson, Jr., review of The Fire of His Genius, p. 36.

Dissent, fall, 1973, review of SDS, p. 384; spring, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 216.

Economic Geography, October, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 374.

Economist, January 5, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 69.

Electronic News, October 16, 1995, Robert Sobel, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 32.

Environmental Politics, autumn, 1994, David Schlosberg, review of The Green Revolution, p. 518.

Ethnohistory, spring, 1992, David Henige, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 179.

Futurist, March-April, 1996, Lane Jennings, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 54.

Geographical Journal, November, 1992, Francis Herbert, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 338.

Georgia Review, spring, 1997, Sanford Pinsker, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 177.

Guardian Weekly (London, England), February 23, 1992, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 26.

Harper's, February, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 76.

Hispania, December, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 947; March, 1992, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 143.

Houston Chronicle, September 21, 2001, Steven E. Alford, review of The Fire of His Genius.

International History Review, August, 1992, review of The Conquest of Paradise, pp. 542-546.

Journal of American History, December, 1973, review of SDS, p. 863; March, 1995, Susan R. Schrepfer, review of The Green Revolution, p. 1832.

Journal of American Studies, August, 1985, review of SDS, p. 240; August, 1994, Peter Coates, review of The Green Revolution, p. 302.

Journal of Politics, August, 1977, review of Power Shift, p. 816.

Journal of Popular Culture, spring, 1988, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 180.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 1973, review of SDS, p. 305; September 15, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 1106; September 1, 1985, review of Dwellers in the Land, p. 947; August 15, 1990, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 1156; March 1, 1995, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 308; June 1, 2001, review of The Fire of His Genius, p. 790.

Kliatt, March, 1993, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 41.

Library Journal, April 15, 1973, review of SDS, p. 1267; March 15, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 821; July, 1980, David Gordon, review of Human Scale, p. 1533; February 15, 1986, Diane M. Brown, review of Dwellers in the Land, p. 190; March 1, 1986, review of Dwellers in the Land, p. 47; October 15, 1990, Brian E. Coutts, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 95; August, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 120; July, 1993, Patricia Owens, review of The Green Revolution, p. 113; April 1, 1995, Michael D. Cramer, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 120; March 1, 1996, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 47; August, 2001, Dale Farris, review of The Fire of His Genius, p. 124.

Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1980, Phil Freshman, review of Human Scale; October 20, 1985, Robert W. Glasgow, review of Dwellers in the Land, p. 5; October 27, 1985, Robert W. Glasgow, review of Dwellers in the Land, 10; June 18, 1995, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 4.

Meridian, 1993, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 34.

MultiCultural Review, January, 1992, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 26.

Nation, September 24, 1973, review of SDS, p. 278; July 19, 1980, Jeffrey Gillenkirk, review of Human Scale, p. 88.

National Review, March 5, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 225.

Nature, August 24, 1995, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 653.

New Catalyst, spring, 1990, review of Dwellers in the Land, p. 6.

New Leader, December 8, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 8.

New Republic, December 13, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 26; October 22, 1990, Larry McMurtry, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 36; January 6, 1992, Simon Schama, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 30; June 10, 1996, Steven Marcus, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 30.

New Statesman, July 12, 1996, Alun Howkins, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 47.

New Statesman & Society, February 8, 1991, Roy Porter, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 33.

Newsweek, May 7, 1973, review of SDS, p. 99; December 22, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 84; November 5, 1990, Malcolm Jones, Jr., review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 79; November 18, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 80J.

New York Review of Books, April 30, 1981, Andrew Hacker, review of Human Scale, p. 8; November 22, 1990, Garry Willis, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 6; October 6, 1994, Daniel J. Kevles, review of The Green Revolution, p. 35.

New York Times, June 2, 1973, review of SDS, p. 29; November 21, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 41; June 15, 1980, Langdon Winner, review of Power Shift, p. 13; October 6, 1985, Rosalind Williams, review of Dwellers in the Land, p. 15; October 17, 1990, Herbert Mitgang, review of The Conquest of Paradise, pp. B4, C18.

New York Times Book Review, May 6, 1973, review of SDS, p. 3; June 10, 1973, review of SDS, p. 40; February 10, 1974, review of SDS, p. 27; November 20, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 1; December 7, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 58; June 15, 1980, Langdon Winner, review of Power Shift, p. 13; October 6, 1985, Rosalind Williams, review of Dwellers in the Land, p. 15; October 7, 1990, William H. McNeill, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 28; September 15, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 34.

Northern Review, summer, 1992, review of The Conquest of Paradise, pp. 189-192.

People, September 1, 1980, review of Human Scale, p. 10.

Political Science Quarterly, spring, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 144.

Progressive, June, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 41; October, 1980, Scott Sanders, review of Human Scale, p. 52.

Publishers Weekly, March 19, 1973, review of SDS, p. 66; October 20, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 64; June 28, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 98; September 6, 1985, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of Dwellers in the Land, p. 60; September 7, 1990, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 70; July 19, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 55; June 7, 1993, review of The Green Revolution, p. 65; April 24, 1995, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 56; July6 2, 2001, review of The Fire of His Genius, p. 60.

Race and Class, January-March, 1992, Chris Searle, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 73.

Reason, January, 1996, Joel Mokyr, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 59.

Reference & Research Book News, September, 1995, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 6.

Reference Services Review, 1992, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 10.

Reviews in American History, September, 1991, Thomas P. Slaughter, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 332.

Saturday Night, September, 1992, Kenneth Whyte, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 20.

Science Books & Films, August, 1995, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 174.

Sea History, spring, 2002, review of The Fire of His Genius, p. 54.

Sierra Club Bulletin, March-April, 1981, Walt Anderson, review of Human Scale, p. 63.

Social Education, October, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 348.

Spectator, November 21, 1992, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 42.

Technology and Culture, April, 2002, Daniel R. Headrick, review of The Fire of His Genius, p. 428.

Times Educational Supplement, December 26, 1980, review of Human Scale, p. 13.

Times Literary Supplement, November 1, 1991, Raymond Carr, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 3; August 29, 1997, Leo Marx, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 3.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), September 8, 2002, review of The Fire of His Genius, p. 6.

Village Voice, October 18, 1973, review of SDS, p. 29; September 15, 1975, review of Power Shift, p. 54.

Virginia Quarterly Review, autumn, 1976, review of Power Shift, p. 712; spring, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 68; autumn, 1993, review of The Green Revolution, p. 133.

Wall Street Journal, June 27, 1980, Karl O'Lessker, review of Human Scale, p. 22; September 24, 2001, Kenneth Silverman, review of The Fire of His Genius, p. A22.

Washington Monthly, July-August, 1980, James Fellows, review of Human Scale, p. 59.

Whole Earth Review, fall, 1992, Gregory McNamee, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 71.

William and Mary Quarterly, April, 1992, William Cronon, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 384.

Wilson Quarterly, annual, 1991, review of The Conquest of Paradise, p. 90.

World Development, October-November, 1987, Guy Grant, review of Dwellers in the Land, p. 1393.

Yale Review, October, 1973, review of SDS, p. 146; October, 1996, Edward T. Chase, review of Rebels against the Future, p. 137.

ONLINE

Culture Change, http://www.culturechange.org/ (July 28, 2003), David Kupfer, "Rebel against the Future," interview with Sale.

Industrial Worker, http://www.iww.org/ (December, 1995), review of Rebels against the Future.

Primitivism, http://www.primitivism.com/ (July 29, 2005), "Interview—Kirkpatrick Sale."