Research Catalog

A Man Apart : Bill Coperthwaite's Radical Experiment in Living

Title: A Man Apart : Bill Coperthwaite's Radical Experiment in Living / Peter Forbes and Helen Whybrow ; photographs by Peter Forbes.
Author: Forbes, Peter, 1961-
Publication: White River Junction, Vermont : Chelsea Green Publishing, [2015]
Supplementary Content: Cover image

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	JFE 16-7718	Schwarzman Building - Milstein Division Room 121

Details

Additional Authors

Whybrow, Helen

Description

xi, 259 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"A story of friendship, encouragement, and the quest to design a better world, A Man Apart is the story--part family memoir and part biography--of Peter Forbes and Helen Whybrow's longtime friendship with Bill Coperthwaite (A Handmade Life), whose unusual life and fierce ideals helped them examine and understand their own. Coperthwaite inspired many by living close to nature and in opposition to contemporary society, and was often compared to Henry David Thoreau. Much like Helen and Scott Nearing, who were his friends and mentors, Coperthwaite led a 55-year-long 'experiment in living' on a remote stretch of Maine coast. There he created a homestead of wooden, multistoried yurts, a form of architecture for which he was known around the world. Coperthwaite also embodied a philosophy that he called 'democratic living, ' which was about empowering all people to have agency over their lives in order to create a better community. The central question of Coperthwaite's life was, 'How can I live according to what I believe?' In this intimate and honest account--framed by Coperthwaite's sudden death and brought alive through the month-long adventure of building with him what would turn out to be his last yurt--Forbes and Whybrow explore the timeless lessons of Coperthwaite's experiment in intentional living and self-reliance. They also reveal an important story about the power and complexities of mentorship: the opening of one's life to someone else to learn together, and carrying on in that person's physical absence. While mourning Coperthwaite's death and coming to understand the real meaning of his life and how it endures through their own, Forbes and Whybrow craft a story that reveals why it's important to seek direct experience, to be drawn to beauty and simplicity, to create rather than critique, and to encourage others"--

Subject

Contents

The Last Journey -- Sail and Anchor -- Like a Landscape -- Thirst -- Heaven Below -- Finding an Elder -- Know Your Own Bone -- Finding Nonviolence -- Rain Clouds -- Finding Oneself -- Coming to Rest -- A Handmade Death -- The Last Yurt -- Epilogue -- Chronology of a Life.

Call Number

JFE 16-7718

ISBN

9781603585477
1603585478
9781603585484 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2014039564

OCLC

893453729

Author

Forbes, Peter, 1961- author.

Title

A Man Apart : Bill Coperthwaite's Radical Experiment in Living / Peter Forbes and Helen Whybrow ; photographs by Peter Forbes.

Publisher

White River Junction, Vermont : Chelsea Green Publishing, [2015]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Connect to:

Cover image

Added Author

Whybrow, Helen, author.

Research Call Number

JFE 16-7718

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