The Natural State

Long before wellness influencers began photographing themselves beside bowls of chia seeds and announcing life-changing discoveries involving cold water, meditation apps and expensive leggings, H. Dennis Bradley was already busy contemplating humanity’s relationship with nature in The Natural State.

Published in 1927, this intriguing volume emerges from an era when modernity was advancing at full steam, cities were expanding, motor cars were multiplying, and many thoughtful people were beginning to wonder whether civilisation’s relentless march might occasionally be heading in the wrong direction. Bradley’s answer was not to abandon thought altogether, but to consider what mankind might learn by reconnecting with the simpler principles of the natural world.

The result is a wonderfully period piece that somehow feels oddly contemporary. Readers may find themselves nodding along in agreement one moment before remembering that these observations were being made while silent films were still fresh in public memory and the average household considered electric lighting a rather exciting innovation.

Bradley writes with the confidence of a man who suspects that nature may know a few things that modern society has forgotten. There are reflections on health, lifestyle, behaviour and the increasingly complicated structures that human beings construct around themselves. Whether you agree with every conclusion is almost beside the point. The fascination lies in observing an intelligent writer wrestling with questions that remain remarkably familiar nearly a century later.

There is also a delightful irony running through the book. Modern publishers would probably market many of its ideas under headings such as "mindfulness", "wellbeing", "digital detox" or "holistic living". In 1927 they simply called it a book. One cannot help feeling that Bradley might have been mildly amused to discover entire industries eventually built around concepts he was discussing before most people owned a television.

As with many thoughtful works from the interwar period, The Natural State provides an unexpected window into the concerns of its age. Beneath the discussion of nature and society lies a broader portrait of a world trying to make sense of rapid change. The questions may be old, but they remain surprisingly fresh.

Collectors of unusual social commentary, early self-improvement literature, alternative health writing, or simply curious corners of twentieth-century publishing will find much to enjoy here. It occupies that wonderfully difficult-to-categorise territory where philosophy, observation, social criticism and personal reflection all mingle together.

This 1927 T. Werner Laurie edition remains in good condition and comes from the shelves of Crappy Old Books. A survivor from the interwar years, it has endured rather more gracefully than many of the certainties held by the age that produced it. Solid, readable and full of period charm, it is a fascinating reminder that every generation eventually discovers that the future is more complicated than expected.

An absorbing and thought-provoking relic from a time when people worried that modern life was becoming too artificial. Nearly a century later, one suspects Bradley would feel quietly vindicated.

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