ABSTRACT
When Richard Weaver took his stand for an agrarian culture he was also defending his own family’s long and hard-fought heritage. Weaver was especially influenced by Ransom, who in the early 1930s was the most accomplished poet and critic among the soon-to-be famous Agrarian literary figures. Weaver liked the Agrarians as persons. He especially was attracted to their acceptance of regional cultures, the folk arts, and social classes. Weaver’s experience led him to write several insightful essays lamenting the decline of quality in American education—and even the dubious idea of mass education itself. Teaching was a profession Weaver held in great esteem. Weaver’s disciples remain a defiant minority within the conservative intellecutal community. Even a feisty minority with unshakeable convictions may influence the trend of mainstream politics—a position which Weaver’s followers find themselves.
