R. Douglas Hurt 
A Companion to American Agricultural History [EPUB ebook] 

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:

* Introduces readers to a uniquely wide range of topics within the study of American agricultural history

* Provides a narrative summary and a critical examination of field-defining works

* Introduces specific topics within American agricultural history such as agrarian reform, agribusiness, and agricultural power and production

* Discusses the impacts of American agriculture on different groups including Native Americans, African Americans, and European, Asian, and Latinx immigrants

* Views the agricultural history of America through new interdisciplinary lenses of race, class, and the environment

* Explores depictions of American agriculture in film, popular music, literature, and art

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.

Cuprins

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. De Jong

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

Despre autor

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.