Synopses & Reviews
In the first-ever history of American beer, Maureen Ogle tells its epic story, from the immigrants who invented it to the upstart microbrewers who revived it. and#160; Beer might seem as American as baseball, but that has not always been true: Rum and whiskey were the drinks of choice in the 1840s, with only a few breweries making heavy, yeasty English ale. When a wave of German immigrants arrived in the middle of the nineteenth century, they promptly set about re-creating the pleasures of the
biergartens they had left behind.
and#160;Just fifty years later, the American-style lager beer they invented was the nationand#8217;s most popular beverageand#8212;and brewing was the nationand#8217;s fifth-largest industry, ruled over by fabulously wealthy titans Frederick Pabst and Adolphus Busch. But when anti-German sentiments aroused by World War I fed the flames of the temperance movement (one activist even declared that and#8220;the worst of all our German enemies are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Millerand#8221;), Prohibition was the result. In the wake of its repeal, brewers replaced flavor with innovations like marketing and lite beer, setting the stage for a generation of microbrewers whose ambitions reshaped the drink.
and#160;Grab a glass and settle in for the surprising story behind your favorite pint.
Review
"From the colonial origins of America's carnivorous culture to the emergence of factory farming, Maureen Ogle provides a clear-eyed analysis of America's meat-loving lifestyle, showing that concerns about the role of large corporations and worries about safety are far from new. This is history you can really sink your teeth into." Tom Standage, author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses
Review
"To understand why we feel the way we do about meat, we have to know how we got here. Maureen Ogle illuminates today's debates by making us understand yesterdays. That will help us with our choices tomorrow." Alan Bjerga, author of Endless Appetites: How the Commodities Casino Creates Hunger and Unrest
Review
"This is a lively and engaging history, balanced and fair-minded. It should cause many of us to rethink our knee-jerk condemnations of ‘factory-farming and the agro-corporations that dominate the American food system. It sure did that for me." Harvey Levenstein, author of Fear of Food: Why We Worry about What We Eat
Review
"Given the recent onslaught of publications picking sides on the issues of food production, Ogles bipartisan approach is a breath of fresh air...it can't be denied that Ogle has served up a lot of truth." Publishers Weekly
Review
"An informative and entertaining narrative of the complexities of a massive industry, in which the author lays bare Americans' sense of entitlement and insistence on cheap and abundant meat and questions what that voracious appetite has wrought on our bodies and the environment." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"A well-researched history of the American meat industry that will appeal to readers looking for a counterpoint to Fast Food Nation and The Omnivores Dilemma." Booklist
Synopsis
The untold history of how meat made America: a tale of the oversized egos, self-made millionaires, and ruthless magnates; eccentrics, politicians, and pragmatists who shaped us into the greatest eaters and providers of meat in history.
Synopsis
The untold story of how meat made America: a tale of the self-made magnates, pragmatic farmers, and impassioned activists who shaped us into the greatest eaters and providers of meat in history.
The moment European settlers arrived in North America, they began transforming the land into a meat-eater’s paradise. Long before revolution turned colonies into nation, Americans were eating meat on a scale the Old World could neither imagine nor provide: an average European was lucky to see meat once a week, while even a poor American man put away about two hundred pounds a year.
Maureen Ogle guides us from that colonial paradise to the urban meat-making factories of the nineteenth century to the hyperefficient packing plants of the late twentieth century. From Swift and Armour to Tyson, Cargill, and ConAgra. From the 1880s cattle bonanza to 1980s feedlots. From agribusiness to today’s “local” meat suppliers and organic countercuisine. Along the way, Ogle explains how Americans’ carnivorous demands shaped urban landscapes, midwestern prairies, and western ranges, and how the American system of meat making became a source of both pride and controversy.
About the Author
Maureen Ogle is a historian and the author of several books, including Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer. She lives in Ames, Iowa.
Table of Contents
Introduction
ix 1. Carnivore America 1
2. “We Are Here to Make Money” 26
3. The (High) Price of Success 63
4. Factories, Farmers, and Chickens 90
5. “How Can We Go Wrong?” 123
6. The Vacuum at the Top 153
7. The Doubters Crusade 188
8. Utopian Visions, Red Tape Reality 223
Conclusion 263
Acknowledgments 268
Notes 271
Bibliography 324
Index 359