R. Douglas Hurt is Professor of History at Purdue University. This interview is based on his new book, Agriculture in the Midwest, 1815–1900 (University of Nebraska Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write Agriculture in the Midwest, 1815-1900? DH:...
Benjamin Jenkins is Associate Professor of History and University Archivist at the University of La Verne. This interview is based on his new book, Octopus’s Garden: How Railroads and Citrus Transformed Southern California (University Press of Kansas, 2023). JF: What...
Lloyd Barba is Assistant Professor of Religion at Amherst College. This interview is based on his new book, Sowing the Sacred: Mexican Pentecostal Farmworkers in California (Oxford University Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write Sowing the Sacred? LB: Having...
Michael Weeks is Lecturer of History at Utah Valley University. This interview is based on his new book, Cattle Beet Capital: Making Industrial Agriculture in Northern Colorado (University of Nebraska Press, 2022). JF: What led you to write Cattle Beet...
It is a two-year degree program with Sterling College in Craftsbury, Vermont and it is run by the Berry Center in New Castle, Kentucky Learn more from Latria Graham‘s piece at Garden & Gun. Here is a taste: Now, the...
Ryan Lizza‘s recent piece on Iowa dairy farmers, immigration, and Devin Nunes‘s family is riveting. A few key points: The Nunes family farm is not located in California. The family moved it to northwest Iowa over a decade ago. The...
Earlier this week President Donald Trump tweeted: Our Nation was founded by farmers. Our independence was won by farmers. And our continent was tamed by farmers. Our farmers always lead the way — we are PROUD of them, and we...
William Thomas Okie is Assistant Professor of History Education at Kennesaw State University. This interview is based on his new book, The Georgia Peach: Culture, Agriculture, and Environment in the American South (Cambridge University Press, 2016). JF: What led you to...
We are glad to have Christian James writing for us at The Way of Improvement Leads Home this weekend. James is a Technical Information Specialist at the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland. Here is his first post:–JF This year’s AHA...
Keith Ferrell, the former editor of Omni magazine, lives on a farm in Virginia. He works his farm with the tools available to 11th century farmers. He tells his story in this essay at Aeon. Here is a taste: I arrived...
Congratulations to Tom Okie, the winner of the Allan Nevins Dissertation Prize. The Nevins prize is given by the Society of American Historians to the best-written doctoral dissertation in American history. Tom’s dissertation is titled “Everything is Peaches Down in...
The National Museum of American History is collecting stories about American’s experience with the land. They are calling it the Agricultural Innovation and Heritage Archive and are currently asking people to share their agricultural stories through their website. Here is...
