The essence of Hurt's latest book n American agriculture is that farmers face the same fundamental issues the did a century ago: overproduction, low commodity prices couples with high production costs, and ineffective government intervention that often encourages rather than discourages overproduction. To the casual reader this may appear somewhat surprising when one considers the enormous technological and demographic shifts ... Read moreduring the 10th century. However, as Hurt carefully details, agricultural policy continues to be partially based on a concept of rural life that had largely disappeared by the beginning of the 20th century. . . . Hurt has produced a very solid, readable history which should be useful for collections in general agriculture, agricultural economies and history, or rural sociology.
CHOICE
American agriculture in the twentieth century is the story of farmers' dependency on the federal government. Hurt posits in this latest volume in the American Ways series. His book is divided into six segments. The first, on the progressive era, deal with the period between 1900 and the end of World War I in what Hurt calls the age of prosperity, a time in which farmers looked to the government to bring abusive corporate practices under control. The second, called the age of uncertainty chronicles the postwar era with its new technology and the creation of the American Farm Bureau Federation that pressured Congress for aid. Next came the Roosevelt era and the Depression, which brought about legislation that provided both immediate relief and long-term recovery. The three remaining segments examine post-World War II prosperity and decline; farm policy under President Kennedy and the era of subsides and genetically modified crops at the end of the century. A thorough treatment.
Booklist
Problems of Plenty is a concise bur rich portrayal of American agriculture during the twentieth century. . . It nonetheless has much to offer to scholars in agricultural history as well as the related fields of economic and political history. R. Douglas Hurt writes clearly and covers a wide range of material. ... [H]is sysnthesis is extremely valuable because so few scholars write about these important issues. . . . I cannot think of a better or more accessible discussion of the changing political economy of U.S. agriculture during the twentieth century.
Journal of Economic History
...This book delivers a tightly woven description of 'commercially oriented farmers.'
Western Historical Quarterly
This overview of the relationship between farmers and the government during the twentieth century deserves a wide readership.
Journal Of The Illinois State Historical Society
…A concise history of U.S. farming over the past 100 years.…A useful book for students and interested lay readers alike.
The Region
Masterful history…. Elegantly written synthesis…. An essential reference work on the complexities of evolving federal farm policy, this text provides clear, concise summaries of major legislation and regulation. . .[T]he book provides a finely honed introduction to the twentieth-century transsformation of agriculture and the role of the federal government in shaping that transformation.
Journal of Southern History
This book is a fast-paced tour through the history of twentieth-century U.S. agriculture. It is dense with facts of an almost journalistic specificity and provides historical interpretations that are widely shared by scholars of the U.S. agriculture[.] ... This is a fine book for obtaining a quick review of mainstream U.S. farming in the twentieth century, especially of the pre-World War II period.
American Historical Review
An intriguing discussion.
Midwest Book Review
Packed with information and insights and emphasizing the many roles of the federal government.
Richard S. Kirkendall, Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor Emeritus, University of Washington By far the best concise account of the American farmer's relation to the federal government in the twentieth century....Extremely valuable.
Allan G. Bogue Problems of Plenty is the best history of twentieth-century American agriculture I've ever read....A fine, fine book.
Peter A. Coclanis Well-conceived and executed...especially strong on the ambivalent relationship between farmers and the federal government.
David Danbom, North Dakota State University Show Less