Download or read book Sowing Modernity written by Peter D. McClelland and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrary to those who regard the economic transformation of the West as a gradual process spanning centuries, Peter D. McClelland claims the initial transformation of American agriculture was an unmistakable revolution. He asks when a single crucial question was first directed persistently, pervasively, and systematically to farming practices: Is there a better way? McClelland surveys practices from crop rotation to livestock breeding, with a particular focus on the change in implements used to produce small grains. With wit and verve and an abundance of detail, he demonstrates that the first great surge in inventive activity in agronomy in the United States took place following the War of 1812, much of it in a fifteen-year period ending in 1830. Once questioning the status quo became the norm for producers on and off the farm, according to McClelland, the march to modernization was virtually assured. With the aid of more than 270 illustrations, many of them taken from contemporary sources, McClelland describes this stunning transformation in a manner rarely found in the agricultural literature. How primitive farming implements worked, what their defects were, and how they were initially redesigned are explained in a manner intelligible to the novice and yet offering analysis and information of special interest to the expert.
Download or read book Sowing Modernity written by Peter D. McClelland and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrary to those who regard the economic transformation of the West as a gradual process spanning centuries, Peter D. McClelland claims the initial transformation of American agriculture was an unmistakable revolution. He asks when a single crucial question was first directed persistently, pervasively, and systematically to farming practices: Is there a better way? McClelland surveys practices from crop rotation to livestock breeding, with a particular focus on the change in implements used to produce small grains. With wit and verve and an abundance of detail, he demonstrates that the first great surge in inventive activity in agronomy in the United States took place following the War of 1812, much of it in a fifteen-year period ending in 1830. Once questioning the status quo became the norm for producers on and off the farm, according to McClelland, the march to modernization was virtually assured. With the aid of more than 270 illustrations, many of them taken from contemporary sources, McClelland describes this stunning transformation in a manner rarely found in the agricultural literature. How primitive farming implements worked, what their defects were, and how they were initially redesigned are explained in a manner intelligible to the novice and yet offering analysis and information of special interest to the expert.
Download or read book A Cultural History of Food in the Modern Age written by Amy Bentley and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-05-22 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the modern age (1920–2000), vast technological innovation spurred greater concentration, standardization, and globalization of the food supply. As advances in agricultural production in the post-World War II era propelled population growth, a significant portion of the population gained access to cheap, industrially produced food while significant numbers remained mired in hunger and malnutrition. Further, as globalization allowed unprecedented access to foods from all parts of the globe, it also hastened environmental degradation, contributed to poor health, and remained a key element in global politics, economics and culture. A Cultural History of Food in the Modern Age presents an overview of the period with essays on food production, food systems, food security, safety and crises, food and politics, eating out, professional cooking, kitchens and service work, family and domesticity, body and soul, representations of food, and developments in food production and consumption globally.
Download or read book Old Fashioned Modernism written by Andy Oler and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2019-06-12 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Midwest holds two conflicting positions in the American cultural imagination, both of which rob the region of its distinctiveness. Often, it is seen as the “heartland,” a pastoral ideal standing in for all of American culture. Alternatively, the Midwest can represent “flyover country,” part of an expansive, undifferentiated mass between the coasts. In Old-Fashioned Modernism: Rural Masculinity and Midwestern Literature, Andy Oler challenges both views by pairing fiction and poetry from the region with cultural and material texts that illustrate the processes by which regional modernism both opposes and absorbs prevailing models of twentieth-century manhood. Although it acknowledges a tradition of Midwestern urban literature, Old-Fashioned Modernism focuses on representations of life on farms and in small towns that generate specific forms of rural modernity. Oler considers a series of male protagonists who both fulfill and resist conventional American narratives of economic advancement, spatial experience, and gender roles. The writers he studies portray the onset of socioeconomic and mechanical modernity by merging realist and naturalist narratives with upwellings of modernist form and style. His analysis charts a trajectory in which Midwestern literature depicts experiences that appear dependent on nostalgic pastoralism but actually foreground the ongoing fragmentation and emerging anxieties of the countryside. In detailed readings of novels by Sherwood Anderson, William Cunningham, Langston Hughes, Wright Morris, and Dawn Powell, as well as the poetry of Lorine Niedecker, Oler highlights images of men from the rural Midwest who face the tensions between agricultural production and mass industrialization. These works of literature, which Oler examines alongside pieces of material culture like advertisements for farm implements and record labels, feature communities that support self-made as well as corporate identities. As portraits of the Midwest that resist the totalizing trajectory of industrialization, these texts generate spaces that meld rural and urban economics, land use, and affective experiences. Old-Fashioned Modernism reveals how Midwestern regionalism negotiates the anxieties and dominant narratives of early- and midcentury rural masculinities, as regional literature and culture alter the forms and spaces of literary modernism.
Download or read book Old World New World written by Leonard J. Sadosky and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2010-01-08 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction / Peter S. Onuf -- Environmental hazards, eighteenth-century style / Gordon S. Wood -- Decadents abroad : reconstructing the typical colonial American in London in the late colonial period / Julie Flavell -- "Citizens of the world" : men, women, and country in the Age of Revolution / Sarah M.S. Pearsall -- Reimagining the British empire and America in an Age of Revolution : the case of William Eden / Leonard J. Sadosky -- John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Dutch patriots / Peter Nicolaisen-- John Adams in Europe : a provincial cosmopolitan confronts the metropolitan world, 1778-1788 / Richard A. Ryerson -- "Behold me at length on the vaunted scene of Europe" : Jefferson and the creation of an American image abroad / Gaye Wilson -- Negotiating gifts : Jefferson's diplomatic presents / Martha Elena Rojas -- Better tools for a new and better world : Jefferson perfects the plow / Lucia Stanton -- The end of a beautiful friendship : Americans in Paris and public diplomacy during the war scare of 1798-1799 / Philipp Ziesche -- Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte : a woman between two worlds / Charlene Boyer Lewis.
Download or read book Birth of Modern Facts written by James W. Cortada and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-01-09 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over twenty years, James W. Cortada has pioneered research into how information shapes society. In this book he tells the story of how information evolved since the mid-nineteenth century. Cortada argues that information increased in quantity, became more specialized by discipline (e.g., mathematics, science, political science), and more organized. Information increased in volume due to a series of innovations, such as the electrification of communications and the development of computers, but also due to the organization of facts and knowledge by discipline, making it easier to manage and access. He looks at what major disciplines have done to shape the nature of modern information, devoting chapters to the most obvious ones. Cortada argues that understanding how some features of information evolved is useful for those who work in subjects that deal with their very construct and application, such as computer scientists and those exploring social media and, most recently, history. The Birth of Modern Facts builds on Cortada’s prior books examining how information became a central feature of modern society, most notably as a sequel to All the Facts: A History of Information in the United States since 1870 (OUP, 2016) and Building Blocks of Society: History, Information Ecosystems, and Infrastructures (R&L, 2021).
Download or read book The Rise of Western Power written by Jonathan Daly and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-12-19 with total page 665 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The West's history is one of extraordinary success; no other region, empire, culture, or civilization has left so powerful a mark upon the world. The Rise of Western Power charts the West's achievements-representative government, the free enterprise system, modern science, and the rule of law-as well as its misdeeds-two frighteningly destructive World Wars, the Holocaust, imperialistic domination, and the Atlantic slave trade. Adopting a global perspective, Jonathan Daly explores the contributions of other cultures and civilizations to the West's emergence. Historical, geographical, and cultural factors all unfold in the narrative. Adopting a thematic structure, the book traces the rise of Western power through a series of revolutions-social, political, technological, military, commercial, and industrial, among others. The result is a clear and engaging introduction to the history of Western civilization.
Download or read book Governing Animals written by Kimberly K. Smith and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-06 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the role of government in protecting animal welfare? What principles should policy makers draw on as they try to balance animal welfare against human liberty? Much has been written in recent years on our moral duties towards animals, but scholars and activists alike have neglected the important question of how far the state may go to enforce those duties. Kimberly K. Smith fills that gap by exploring how liberal political principles apply to animal welfare policy. Focusing on animal welfare in the United States, Governing Animals begins with an account of the historical relationship between animals and the development of the American liberal welfare state. It then turns to the central theoretical argument: Some animals (most prominently pets and livestock) may be considered members of the liberal social contract. That conclusion justifies limited state intervention to defend their welfare - even when such intervention may harm human citizens. Taking the analysis further, the study examines whether citizens may enjoy property rights in animals, what those rights entail, how animals may be represented in our political and legal institutions, and what strategies for reform are most compatible with liberal principles. The book takes up several policy issues along the way, from public funding of animal rescue operations to the ethics of livestock production, animal sacrifice, and animal fighting. Beyond even these specific policy questions, this book asks what sort of liberalism is suitable for the challenges of the twenty-first century. Smith argues that investigating the political morality of our treatment of animals gives us insight into how to design practices and institutions that protect the most vulnerable members of our society, thus making of our shared world a more fitting home for both humans and the nonhumans to which we are so deeply connected.
Download or read book The Paradox of Progress written by Martin J. Hershock and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Martin Hershock traces the ways in which all classes in the state of Michigan found themselves simultaneously attracted to the enticements of the new world of the market and repulsed by its excess and instability. The Paradox of Progress is a study of Michigan history and politics as well as an analysis of the factors underlying the history of the GOP and its evolution from the party that supported the antislavery movement, free soil, free labor, and Lincoln the Rail-Splitter into the party of Mark Hanna, J.P. Morgan, and William McKinley."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Agricultural History written by Jeannie Whayne and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-02-08 with total page 673 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agricultural history has enjoyed a rebirth in recent years, in part because the agricultural enterprise promotes economic and cultural connections in an era that has become ever more globally focused, but also because of agriculture's potential to lead to conflicts over precious resources. The Oxford Handbook of Agricultural History reflects this rebirth and examines the wide-reaching implications of agricultural issues, featuring essays that touch on the green revolution, the development of the Atlantic slave plantation, the agricultural impact of the American Civil War, the rise of scientific and corporate agriculture, and modern exploitation of agricultural labor.
Download or read book Agriculture in the Midwest 1815 1900 written by R. Douglas Hurt and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2023-07 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the War of 1812 and the removal of the region’s Indigenous peoples, the American Midwest became a paradoxical land for settlers. Even as many settlers found that the region provided the bountiful life of their dreams, others found disappointment, even failure—and still others suffered social and racial prejudice. In this broad and authoritative survey of midwestern agriculture from the War of 1812 to the turn of the twentieth century, R. Douglas Hurt contends that this region proved to be the country’s garden spot and the nation’s heart of agricultural production. During these eighty-five years the region transformed from a sparsely settled area to the home of large industrial and commercial cities, including Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Detroit. Still, it remained primarily an agricultural region that promised a better life for many of the people who acquired land, raised crops and livestock, provided for their families, adopted new technologies, and sought political reform to benefit their economic interests. Focusing on the history of midwestern agriculture during wartime, utopian isolation, and colonization as well as political unrest, Hurt contextualizes myriad facets of the region’s past to show how agricultural life developed for midwestern farmers—and to reflect on what that meant for the region and nation.
Download or read book Africa s Lost Classics written by Lizelle Bisschoff and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until recently, the story of African film was marked by a series of truncated histories: many outstanding films from earlier decades were virtually inaccessible and thus often excluded from critical accounts. However, various conservation projects since the turn of the century have now begun to make many of these films available to critics and audiences in a way that was unimaginable just a decade ago. In this accessible and lively collection of essays, Lizelle Bisschoff and David Murphy draw together the best scholarship on the diverse and fragmented strands of African film history. Their volume recovers over 30 'lost' African classic films from 1920-2010 in order to provide a more complex genealogy and begin to trace new histories of African filmmaking: from 1920s Egyptian melodramas through lost gems from apartheid South Africa to neglected works by great Francophone directors, the full diversity of African cinema will be revealed.
Download or read book Provincializing Global History written by James Livesey and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A microhistory of eighteenth-century systemic change that places ordinary French lives alongside global advances Provincializing Global History explores the subtle transformation of the coastal province of the Languedoc in the eighteenth century. Mining a wealth of archival sources, James Livesey unveils how provincial elites and peasant households unwittingly created new practices. Managing local political institutions, establishing new credit systems, building networks of natural historians, and introducing new plants and farm machinery to the region opened up the inhabitants of the province to new norms and standards. The practices were gradually embedded in daily life and allowed the province to negotiate the new worlds of industrial society and capitalism.
Download or read book What Hath God Wrought written by Daniel Walker Howe and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-10-29 with total page 926 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. In this Pulitzer prize-winning, critically acclaimed addition to the series, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent. A panoramic narrative, What Hath God Wrought portrays revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated the extension of the American empire. Railroads, canals, newspapers, and the telegraph dramatically lowered travel times and spurred the spread of information. These innovations prompted the emergence of mass political parties and stimulated America's economic development from an overwhelmingly rural country to a diversified economy in which commerce and industry took their place alongside agriculture. In his story, the author weaves together political and military events with social, economic, and cultural history. Howe examines the rise of Andrew Jackson and his Democratic party, but contends that John Quincy Adams and other Whigs--advocates of public education and economic integration, defenders of the rights of Indians, women, and African-Americans--were the true prophets of America's future. In addition, Howe reveals the power of religion to shape many aspects of American life during this period, including slavery and antislavery, women's rights and other reform movements, politics, education, and literature. Howe's story of American expansion culminates in the bitterly controversial but brilliantly executed war waged against Mexico to gain California and Texas for the United States. Winner of the New-York Historical Society American History Book Prize Finalist, 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction The Oxford History of the United States The Oxford History of the United States is the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. The Atlantic Monthly has praised it as "the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship," a series that "synthesizes a generation's worth of historical inquiry and knowledge into one literally state-of-the-art book." Conceived under the general editorship of C. Vann Woodward and Richard Hofstadter, and now under the editorship of David M. Kennedy, this renowned series blends social, political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and military history into coherent and vividly written narrative.
Download or read book The Rise of Economic Societies in the Eighteenth Century written by K. Stapelbroek and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-08-30 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays explores the emergence of economic societies in the British Isles and their development into a European, American and global reform movement in the eighteenth century. Its fourteen contributions demonstrate the intellectual horizons and international networks of this widespread and influential phenomenon.
Download or read book Food in Time and Place written by Paul Freedman and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2014-10-31 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food and cuisine are important subjects for historians across many areas of study. Food, after all, is one of the most basic human needs and a foundational part of social and cultural histories. Such topics as famines, food supply, nutrition, and public health are addressed by historians specializing in every era and every nation. Food in Time and Place delivers an unprecedented review of the state of historical research on food, endorsed by the American Historical Association, providing readers with a geographically, chronologically, and topically broad understanding of food cultures—from ancient Mediterranean and medieval societies to France and its domination of haute cuisine. Teachers, students, and scholars in food history will appreciate coverage of different thematic concerns, such as transfers of crops, conquest, colonization, immigration, and modern forms of globalization.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment written by Mark G. Spencer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 1257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first reference work on one of the key subjects in American history, filling an important gap in the literature, with over 500 original essays.
