America has 24 cities with larger populations than the entire state of Vermont. In the U.S. Senate every Vermonter has 60 times as much influence as a New Yorker or a Texan. But the best benefit of our size is its potential for civil society. And Vermonters are knee deep in it. We KNOW each other.
I was reminded of this recently as I made out my gift list for the holidays. In 2013 we published two books written by Vermonters for Vermonters; each continues the conversation we have had with ourselves since the beginning.
Paul Gillies’ Uncommon Law, Ancient Roads and other Ruminations on Vermont Legal History shows how Vermonters created the public square itself. Taking Frost’s admonition that “good fences make good neighbors” one step further, he tells us what happened when that poetic wisdom failed - from town houses and churches, property lines, log drives and buying a horse - to land use policy in our own time.
There is no one more appropriate to the task than author Paul Gillies. He shuns legal jargon, adjusts his microscope and carries us inward toward the soul of Vermont’s continuing creation. “Uncommon Law” is also a physically beautiful book - crafted, edited and published by the talented staff of the Vermont Historical Society. I can’t figure out which adverb best describes it, fascinating or fun. Readers will have to decide for themselves .
Howard Coffin’s Something Abides: Discovering the Civil War in Today’s Vermont does for Vermont ’s role in the Civil War what the legendary Esther Swift’s monumental Vermont Place-Names did for the origins of Vermont ’s 246 cities and towns – and I can think of no higher compliment for any book about Vermont.
This book is a lifetime achievement by a Vermonter who has already contributed mightily to what we know about ourselves. Here he treats Vermont’s most cherished moment, our effort to save the Union and end slavery. The iconic Civil War historian James MacPherson says about this book: “…it took six years and 150,000 miles of travel” and “the result is commensurate with the effort.” Published by the equally prestigious Countryman Press of Woodstock, it should find a place of pride in every Vermont household.
What's going on here? Certainly it's not capitalism. Not unless one can hire authors to work for pennies an hour. And the "market" for Vermont books is teensy. For the citizens of the State of New York to match this effort they would have had to pen 60 books.
Nor it is socialism. The Government did not do it. It is that precious axiom that compels citizens to honor each other's generic attachment to a common place. Community. Gilles and Coffin know this. They committed great chunks of their lives to a faith in it as stewards of our deep and continuing self-conscience. Small is not only beautiful, it is essential for civil society.
