{"product_id":"agriculture-in-the-midwest-1815-1900-9781496233493","title":"Agriculture in the Midwest, 1815-1900","description":"2024 Jon Gjerde Prize Winner for best book in Midwestern History \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eR. Douglas Hurt\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of history at Purdue University. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including \u003ci\u003eFood and Agriculture during the Civil War\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eThe Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eThe Great Plains during World War II\u003c\/i\u003e (Bison Books, 2010).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50508856787218,"sku":"9781496233493","price":76.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e952b21f-5330-4907-9ed2-3bd6926c731d.jpg?v=1730880867","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/agriculture-in-the-midwest-1815-1900-9781496233493","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}