Thomas McNamee reviews James Conway’s new book about recent history in the Napa Valley.
After its slow start, ”The Far Side of Eden” takes on some urgency, and by the end one realizes that it has been a quite important story, emblematic of our time. It is about not only wine but land, not only land but greed, not only greed but the get-out-of-my-way self-entitlement that seems to characterize more and more of American society.
I like that “get-out-of-my-way self-entitlement” phrasing. Unfortunately, it’s all too real.