This book is dedicated to the memory of Ben Stinner, an early advocate for a more integrated approach to the study of agroecosystems. An example is the ‘Sugar Creek Method’, described in Chapter 3, with its emphasis on interaction between researchers and farmers and the benefits of the learning process engendered by this interaction. Chapter 4 takes us back to first principles where it is suggested that ‘economic relationships that are extractive of nature or exploitative of people are simply not sustainable’. A provocative statement: is it possible, in a free society, for it to be otherwise? Chapters 5, 6 and 8 put forward alternative paradigms: the idea of the postmodern farm, perennial polyculture and ‘holons’ (‘farms persist in a world of constant change’) respectively, while Chapter 7 provides an interesting account of energy use and human population growth.

Section III covers the ‘ecological foundations of agroecosystem management’. The theme of new paradigms continues and if I have a concern with the book it is the ease with which conventional agriculture is dismissed in favour of – presumably – a substantial increase in an idealised, alternative agriculture. A more general critique of this thought process can be found in the works of John Gray.Footnote ¹

Nonetheless, this is a fascinating overview of how Utopia might be achieved and the scholarship continues to be impressive: Moses, Aristotle and Virgil are all name-checked in Chapter 10. Further chapters offer a rich mix of case studies and conceptual ideas. The book is true to its title and despite some inevitable overlaps, forms a satisfying whole.