Notes on Contributors ixIntroduction 1R. Douglas HurtPart I Regional 31 Native American Agriculture before European Contact 5Gayle Fritz2 North American Colonial Agriculture 23Taylor Spence3 Early National America, 1789-1830: Laying the Foundation for Nineteenth-Century Agricultural Growth 37James L. Huston4 Agricultural Power and Production in Antebellum America 47Kelly Houston Jones5 Making the Rural Midwest: Commodities and Communities 60J.L. Anderson6 The Great Plains 75Thomas D. Isern7 Post-Civil War Southern Agriculture 89Jeannie Whayne8 Three Eras of California Agriculture: Wheat, Specialty Crops, Cotton 102David Vaught9 American Indian Agriculture 115David H. DeJong10 Cities and Agriculture in America 129Andrew C. BakerPart II Science, Technology, and Environment 14511 The Historians' Corner: American Agricultural Science 147Alan I Marcus12 Agricultural Technology 161Paul Nienkamp13 Plant Sciences: A Brief History 175Karen-Beth G. Scholthof14 A Counterculture Agriculture: Organic Farming in a Commercial Food Age 188David D. Vail15 Agricultural History's Agroecological Turn 200Mark D. Hersey and Albert G. WayPart III Ethnicity and Gender 21316 African Americans in Twentieth-Century Agriculture 215Cherisse Jones-Branch17 Gender and Agriculture 229Sara Egge18 Migrant Labor 244Nancy GabinPart IV Politics and Policy 25519 Evolving Boundaries: "The People's Department" across Three Centuries 257Anne Effland20 Agrarian Reform: The Grange, the Farmers' Alliance, and Populism 272Connie L. Lester21 Agricultural Organization in the Twentieth Century: Progressives, Radicals, and Social Activists 286Nancy K. Berlage22 The Development of American Agricultural Policy 300Jonathan Coppess23 Irrigation, Reclamation, and Water Rights 314Brian Q. Cannon24 Consumers, Producers, and the Shifting Logic of Food Safety 327Kendra Smith-Howard25 Meatpacking 341Wilson J. Warren26 Agribusiness 354Peter A. CoclanisPart V Culture 37127 Rural Life 373Megan Birk28 Agriculture and Art 389Travis Nygard29 Agriculture in US Literature 409Kathryn C. Dolan30 The Blues, Country Music, and American Agriculture 421Joseph M. Thompson31 Agriculture and Film 436Debra A. ReidBibliography 453Sara E. MorrisIndex 551
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.