Compared by critics to the writings of Wendell Berry and James Agee, this richly detailed narrative has an unforgettable cast of historic characters and is based on documents found in the upcountry plantation home the author began to renovate in 1989. It is a metaphor of how Southerners carved out a wilderness, developed productive farms, and saw it all destroyed by invaders. Our Fathers’ Fields was the Winner of the Fellowship of Southern Writers Award for Nonfiction in 1999.