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Note: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
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Provides a solid foundation for understanding American agricultural history and offers new directions for research
A Companion to American Agricultural History addresses the key aspects of America’s complex agricultural past from 8,000 BCE to the first decades of the twenty-first century. Bringing together more than thirty original essays by both established and emerging scholars, this innovative volume presents a succinct and accessible overview of American agricultural history while delivering a state-of-the-art assessment of modern scholarship on a diversity of subjects, themes, and issues.
The essays provide readers with starting points for their exploration of American agricultural history—whether in general or in regards to a specific topic—and highlights the many ways the agricultural history of America is of integral importance to the wider American experience. Individual essays trace the origin and development of agricultural politics and policies, examine changes in science, technology, and government regulations, offer analytical suggestions for new research areas, discuss matters of ethnicity and gender in American agriculture, and more. This Companion:
A Companion to American Agricultural History is an essential resource for introductory students and general readers seeking a concise overview of the subject, and for graduate students and scholars wanting to learn about a particular aspect of American agricultural history.
R. DOUGLAS HURT is a Professor of History at Purdue University. He served as President of the Agricultural History Society and is a former editor of Agricultural History, Missouri Historical Review, and Ohio History. Professor Hurt is the author and editor of numerous books including American Agriculture: A Brief History and Food and Agriculture during the Civil War.
Notes on Contributors ix
Introduction 1R. Douglas Hurt
Part I Regional 3
1 Native American Agriculture before European Contact 5Gayle Fritz
2 North American Colonial Agriculture 23Taylor Spence
3 Early National America, 1789–1830: Laying the Foundation for Nineteenth-Century Agricultural Growth 37James L. Huston
4 Agricultural Power and Production in Antebellum America 47Kelly Houston Jones
5 Making the Rural Midwest: Commodities and Communities 60J.L. Anderson
6 The Great Plains 75Thomas D. Isern
7 Post-Civil War Southern Agriculture 89Jeannie Whayne
8 Three Eras of California Agriculture: Wheat, Specialty Crops, Cotton 102David Vaught
9 American Indian Agriculture 115David H. DeJong
10 Cities and Agriculture in America 129Andrew C. Baker
Part II Science, Technology, and Environment 145
11 The Historians’ Corner: American Agricultural Science 147Alan I Marcus
12 Agricultural Technology 161Paul Nienkamp
13 Plant Sciences: A Brief History 175Karen-Beth G. Scholthof
14 A Counterculture Agriculture: Organic Farming in a Commercial Food Age 188David D. Vail
15 Agricultural History’s Agroecological Turn 200Mark D. Hersey and Albert G. Way
Part III Ethnicity and Gender 213
16 African Americans in Twentieth-Century Agriculture 215Cherisse Jones-Branch
17 Gender and Agriculture 229Sara Egge
18 Migrant Labor 244Nancy Gabin
Part IV Politics and Policy 255
19 Evolving Boundaries: “The People’s Department” across Three Centuries 257Anne Effland
20 Agrarian Reform: The Grange, the Farmers’ Alliance, and Populism 272Connie L. Lester
21 Agricultural Organization in the Twentieth Century: Progressives, Radicals, and Social Activists 286Nancy K. Berlage
22 The Development of American Agricultural Policy 300Jonathan Coppess
23 Irrigation, Reclamation, and Water Rights 314Brian Q. Cannon
24 Consumers, Producers, and the Shifting Logic of Food Safety 327Kendra Smith-Howard
25 Meatpacking 341Wilson J. Warren
26 Agribusiness 354Peter A. Coclanis
Part V Culture 371
27 Rural Life 373Megan Birk
28 Agriculture and Art 389Travis Nygard
29 Agriculture in US Literature 409Kathryn C. Dolan
30 The Blues, Country Music, and American Agriculture 421Joseph M. Thompson
31 Agriculture and Film 436Debra A. Reid
Bibliography 453Sara E. Morris
Index 551
The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.