Who Owns America: A New Declaration of Independence

Who Owns America? A New Declaration of Independence is the classic sequel to I'll Take My Stand, the famous defense of the South's agrarian traditions. But whereas I'll Take My Stand was theoretical and sectional, Who Owns America? sought to be concrete and national, and it succeeded. The book evokes and defends in realist terms an America characterized by small-property ownership, decentralized politics, and responsible stewardship of the nation's natural resources.
It was a radical statement in 1936 and remains one at the end of the twentieth century. How should a republic exercise power over its citizens? How may economic goods be justly distributed? What status should the small farm have in the life of a nation? By what means may family life be rendered stable? What is the economic role of women in a free society? These are just some of the issues raised, and answered in unique ways, in this book. Though written over sixty years ago, Who Owns America? still challenges many assumptions at play in the American public psyche and is also indispensable in understanding a crucial period of American history.

Herbert Agar (1897-1980) was a columnist for the Louisville Courier-Dispatch from 1935 to 1939. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History in 1936, Agar wrote The People's Choice: From Washington to Harding: A Study in Democracy (1933), Land of the Free (1935), Pursuit of Happiness: The Story of American Democracy (1938), and The Price of Union (1950). Allen Tate (1899-1979) was a Southern Agrarian and a notable poet and man of letters. Best known for his poem "Ode to the Confederate Dead" and his novel The Fathers, Tate wrote biographies of Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis and several volumes of literary criticism. His Essays of Four Decades is also published by ISI Books.