Wendell Berry has never been afraid to speak up for the dispossessed. The Need to Be Whole continues the work he began in The Hidden Wound 1970 and The Unsettling of America 1977 demanding a careful exploration of this hard shared truth The wealth of the mighty few governing this nation has been built on the unpaid labor of others.ampamp160ampamp160Without historical understanding of this practice of dispossessionthe displacement of Native peoples the destruction of both the land and landbased communities ongoing racial divisionampamp8212we are doomed to continue industrialisms assault on both the natural world and every sacred American ideal. Berry writes To deal with so great a problem the best idea may not be to go ahead in our present state of unhealth to more disease and more product development.