"Take a chance on this dive in to an eccentric niche of the American farm industry—it has a strange attraction, especially for foodies, business innovators and entrepreneurs .... A nimble story about how one man’s revolutionary ideas changed the way we eat." - Kirkus Reviews

"The book has everything. A group of Montana farmers turning one at a time away from “conventional” ag to organics. The saga of what it’s like to be a renegade in your own community. How political affiliation loses meaning in the face of sharing common difficulties." - Evan Kleiman, Host of Good Food on KCRW

"Carlisle is a clear and vivid writer ... an important contribution to the sustainable agricultural genre." - Hannah Wallace, for the San Francisco Chronicle

"In Carlisle's capable hands, this story of how a few renegade farmers bucked the prevailing culture of Big Ag is riveting and inspiring." - Kristen Galles, for Shelf Awareness

"This combination of serious academic research and authentic human interaction is perhaps what makes Lentil Underground not only an important book but a great read. Carlisle introduces us to Oien and a plethora of other members of the Lentil Underground in a way that is accessible, personal and compelling. The writing is top notch and the reader is allowed to make his or her own conclusions about the information presented." - Doug Mitchell, for Montana Magazine

"Clear, vivid storytelling ... alive to the ordeals and satisfactions of change as people struggle to create new facts on (as well as in) the ground." - Chris Walters, for Acres

"An in-depth profile of family farmers who are willing to take on corporate consolidation to build a better food system ..." - Naomi Starkman, for Civil Eats

"In an increasingly polarized era when differences and disagreements dominate the headlines, Carlisle’s narrative provides an optimistic case for a renewed commitment to the little things that bring us together ..."- Alexis Shusterman, for Berkeley Science Review

"This book takes the reader on a journey that can help to illuminate the human side of farming. Lentil Underground serves as an engaging introduction to some of the multiple compounding challenges that are faced in the movement toward more sustainable agricultural methods, and why there is no such thing as as simple solution." - Julia Russell Jozkow, for the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development

"Lentil Underground is a book that many of us have been waiting for: a readable, journalistic rather than staid academic account of U.S. farmers’ struggle to create a mainstream organic, multi-crop alternative to conventional and genetically-engineered, monocrop agriculture." - Ellen Messer, for the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition

"Lentil Underground  is an entertaining, moving and thought-provoking portrayal of a group of renegade farmers and ranchers in Montana who, for the past 40 years, have been ridding their land of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, turning instead to crop rotation and alternative crops in a revolutionary return to sustainable agricultural practices." - Erin H. Turner, for Big Sky Journal

"The lessons are both universal and potentially very applicable to farmers and consumers everywhere." - Amy Mayer, for Harvest Public Media/Iowa Public Radio

"Liz Carlisle has done organic and sustainable agriculture a huge favor .... Here is the story of a group of stubbornly independent, hard working people trying to make a living in a place they love, protect the land by working with nature not against it, and avoid the straightjacket of modern industrial farming's dependence on fossil fuels, corporate inputs, and markets." - Mary Fund, for Rural Papers 

"What is a lentil, and why should I care about it? you may well ask. I did -- but after reading this book, I know, and so should you." - Carole Ann Clark, for the Great Falls Tribune

"A book that celebrates ingenuity, faith, hard work, and community, presenting an inspiring model that could influence federal agricultural policy, if enough people were to pay attention." - Amy Hassinger, for Sierra Magazine

"An incredibly inspiring and hopeful saga of grit, determination, love for the land, open-mindedness, and most of all, community." - Hank Will, for Mother Earth News

"Carlisle's compelling and often suspenseful storytelling leaves the reader, much like the farmers she describes, eager to discover what each next harvest might bring." - Emily Reisman, for Peace Review