Clarke covers a remarkable number of topics, including geographic factors in the choice of agricultural land, land acquisition and clearance, energy expended in clearing and planting the land, and selection of specific crops and their extent and yields in particular combinations of soils. He also investigates the geographic parameters for wheat production – which drove the local economy – and the cultural origins of farmers as it relates to their use of intensive and extensive agriculture. Brimming with detail and expert analysis, The Ordinary People of Essex is an illuminating study of settler life and the conditions that make it possible to found a community. It complements the author’s award–winning Land, Power, and Economics.

John Clarke has been involved in anti-poverty struggles since he helped to form a union of unemployed workers in London, Ontario, in 1983. He is a founding member of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and worked as one of its organizers from 1990 to 2019. He is currently the Packer Visitor in Social Justice at York University in Toronto.

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