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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 provides readers with a solid foundation for understanding America's complex agricultural past. Broad in topical and historical scope, the volume brings together more than thirty original essays exploring the key aspects of American agriculture from 8,000 BCE to the present. The Companion presents well-balanced coverage of diverse themes, issues, and perspectives-combining a succinct and accessible overview of American agricultural history with a state-of-the-art assessment of field-defining works and modern scholarship.
Throughout the text, established scholars and emerging voices in the field offer analytical suggestions for innovative research areas and examine the ways America's agricultural history is interwoven with the many dimensions of the American experience. Individual essays address a uniquely wide range of topics, including the origin and development of agricultural politics and policies, transformative changes in science and technology, representations of agriculture in the arts, and new insights gained through interdisciplinary lenses of race, class, gender, and the environment.
A Companion to American Agricultural History is an ideal introductory text for undergraduate students and general readers seeking a concise overview of the subject, and an invaluable reference work for graduate students and scholars wanting to learn about a particular aspect of American agricultural history.
List of contents
Notes on Contributors ix
Introduction 1
R. Douglas Hurt Part I Regional 3 1 Native American Agriculture before European Contact 5
Gayle Fritz 2 North American Colonial Agriculture 23
Taylor Spence 3 Early National America, 1789-1830: Laying the Foundation for Nineteenth-Century Agricultural Growth 37
James L. Huston 4 Agricultural Power and Production in Antebellum America 47
Kelly Houston Jones 5 Making the Rural Midwest: Commodities and Communities 60
J.L. Anderson 6 The Great Plains 75
Thomas D. Isern 7 Post-Civil War Southern Agriculture 89
Jeannie Whayne 8 Three Eras of California Agriculture: Wheat, Specialty Crops, Cotton 102
David Vaught 9 American Indian Agriculture 115
David H. DeJong 10 Cities and Agriculture in America 129
Andrew C. Baker Part II Science, Technology, and Environment 145 11 The Historians' Corner: American Agricultural Science 147
Alan I Marcus 12 Agricultural Technology 161
Paul Nienkamp 13 Plant Sciences: A Brief History 175
Karen-Beth G. Scholthof 14 A Counterculture Agriculture: Organic Farming in a Commercial Food Age 188
David D. Vail 15 Agricultural History's Agroecological Turn 200
Mark D. Hersey and Albert G. Way Part III Ethnicity and Gender 213 16 African Americans in Twentieth-Century Agriculture 215
Cherisse Jones-Branch 17 Gender and Agriculture 229
Sara Egge 18 Migrant Labor 244
Nancy Gabin Part IV Politics and Policy 255 19 Evolving Boundaries: "The People's Department" across Three Centuries 257
Anne Effland 20 Agrarian Reform: The Grange, the Farmers' Alliance, and Populism 272
Connie L. Lester 21 Agricultural Organization in the Twentieth Century: Progressives, Radicals, and Social Activists 286
Nancy K. Berlage 22 The Development of American Agricultural Policy 300
Jonathan Coppess 23 Irrigation, Reclamation, and Water Rights 314
Brian Q. Cannon 24 Consumers, Producers, and the Shifting Logic of Food Safety 327
Kendra Smith-Howard 25 Meatpacking 341
Wilson J. Warren 26 Agribusiness 354
Peter A. Coclanis Part V Culture 371 27 Rural Life 373
Megan Birk 28 Agriculture and Art 389
Travis Nygard 29 Agriculture in US Literature 409
Kathryn C. Dolan 30 The Blues, Country Music, and American Agriculture 421
Joseph M. Thompson 31 Agriculture and Film 436
Debra A. Reid Bibliography 453
Sara E. Morris Index 551
About the author
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.
