Wisconsin farmer-volunteer fireman-writer Michael Perry lives in a county that “voted for a presidential candidate I regarded as a gold-plated tinhorn.” Those voters include friends, family and neighbors. And yet, in the tolerant spirit of 16th-century French philosopher-essayist Michel de Montaigne who became his unlikely inspiration, he refuses to demonize. That would lower him to the level of the “mouth athletes on their distant electronic thrones.” The latest book by The New York Times bestselling author of The Jesus Cow is a meditation on humanity, rural life, fair-minded uncertainty and, yes, Montaigne. It may make you want to seek out the wise Frenchman. And it may make you laugh out loud. Montaigne in Barn Boots is an Upper Midwest Hillbilly Elegy, but much more fun to read.
