Mother Country: Britain, the Welfare State and Nuclear Pollution

It's still hard for me to believe Marilynne Robinson has become so famous the president quotes her as his "friend." For nearly twenty years after her great debut novel, Housekeeping, she nearly disappeared, publishing only this book of nonfiction, which I was recently surprised to see is still in print. Any fan of her novels and essays might find it fascinating. It's been twenty years since I read it, and honestly I'm no judge of the validity of her condemnation of British nuclear policy (and really all of modern British society), but my goodness, just a glance through makes one marvel at the Biblical power of her rhetoric, and her willingness to overturn whole centuries of settled thought. It's a remarkable window into her work.