RSS Mania

Agriculture is the most fundamental of all human activities. Today, those who till the soil or tend livestock feed a world population of approximately 6.5 billion. Fifty years ago, the planet could not have sustained such a large population, and according to present projections, farmers will have to feed nine billion people by 2050. The greatest agricultural revolution in history has occurred in the last fifty years , with farmers in the United States leading the way. America’s declining number of farms, however, comes as a surprise to many and may have dramatic implications. Paul K. Conkin’s A Revolution Down on the Farm: The Transformation of American Agriculture since 1929 charts the profound changes in farming that have occurred during his lifetime. Conkin’s personal experience growing up on a small Tennessee farm complements compelling statistical data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Using economic and historical analysis, Conkin assesses the skills, new technologies, and government policies that helped transform American farming. He clarifies the present status of a subsidized, large-scale, mechanized, and chemically supported agriculture, evaluates its environmental and human costs, and surveys alternatives to a troubled, widely challenged system. Paul K. Conkin is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of numerous books, including The State of the Earth, The Southern Agrarians, and When All the Gods Trembled. “This important book explores a recent revolution in American history that substituted technology for people and animals in farming and greatly increased output. Paul Conkin tells this tale in his own way, drawing upon his personal involvement in the story as well as the relevant scholarship and the basic documents.” –Richard Kirkendall “This book is an accurate and straightfoward account of agriculture in America down through the years, spiced with the on-farm experiences of the author himself. All the important farm issues and views about them are discussed in a format that is handy and easy to read. Perfect for the new student of agriculture who needs a quick but detailed introduction to farming history in the United States”–Gene Logsdon “Conkin’s book certainly springs forward and can be read in a manner that encourages the reader to gain a comprehensive understanding of the topics addressed. What is more, his book is truly interesting to anyone interested in the history of farming or the history of rural America.”–North Florida News Daily “This book should be recommended reading for students and teachers of agriculture. Furthermore, those working in production agriculture will likely find the book very provocative.”–Choice “This cogent, thorough history should prove fascinating for anyone interested in the changing landscape of American agriculture.”–Publishers Weekly “Conkin has combined his skills as a historian with his considerable knowledge and passion for agriculture to write an in-depth account of the revolution in agricultural production that occurred after 1930. This book should be recommended reading for students and teachers of agriculture. Furthermore, those working in production agriculture will likely find the book very provocative. Highly recommended.”–Choice “As interesting as the personal tale is, however, what is even more useful is Conkin’s concise, carefully written discussion of the major changes in American agriculture since 1929.”–Journal of Illinois History “Conkin provides an original twist by narrating his own experiences of farm life as a youth in eastern Tennessee…he manages to personalize his tale without letting nostalgia blind his scholarly critical eye.”–Journal of American History “Historian Paul K. Conkin provides an interesting examination of the transformation that has occurred in American agriculture over the last eighty years.”–Kentucky Ancestors “This book provokes thought, and ideally it will provoke reflection and a study that addresses the social costs as well as the industrial gains made during the greatest industrial revolution in the history of the United States, the agricultural production revolution.”–Ohio Valley History “For a generation of students who know little about the agricultural past, Conkin’s book will provide an important and well-rounded overview.”–Agricultural History “An accurate and straightforward account of agriculture in America down through the years, spiced with the on-farm experiences of the author himself. Perfect for the new student of agriculture who needs a quick but detailed introduction to farming history in the United States.” –Gene Logsdon, author of The Mother of all Arts: Agrarianism and the Creative Impulse “Conkin cogently describes agricultural life with particular attention to changes wrought by the world beyond farmyard and fields . . . about lost American country life.”–Indiana Magazine of History “Conkin provides a masterful survey of the major agricultural legislation of the 1930s, noting that the long-term effect of these programs continues to invite curiosity. . . . a friendly, approachable work on agricultural history . . . a map to new ways of thinking about the past and planning for the future.”–Arkansas Historical Quarterly “Clearly written and organized, Conkin’s book will appeal to anyone interested in farming and the agricultural economy.”–Book News “Conkin’s latest book—or perhaps, as he predicts, his final book—is a thoughtful and elegantly written survey of American agriculture since the 1930s.”–Business History Review — Sarah Phillips “Revolution clarifies an immensely complex topic, not only changes in American agricultural practices and technologies, but also the politics of definition and the long term repercussions of what many might simply ignored as banal.”–Southeastern Librarian

Most lifting bodies, or “flying bathtubs” as they were called, were so ugly only an engineer could love them, and yet, what an elegant way to keep wings from burning off in supersonic flight between earth and orbit. Working in their spare time (because they couldn’t initially get official permission), Dale Reed and his team of engineers demonstrated the potential of the design that led to the Space Shuttle. Wingless Flight takes us behind the scenes with just the right blend of technical information and fascinating detail (the crash of M2-F2 found new life as the opening credit for TV’s “The Six Million Dollar Man”). The flying bathtub, itself, is finding new life as the proposed escape-pod for the Space Station. R. Dale Reed retired from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in 1985 but still works with NASA as a contract engineer. He has authored numerous articles and technical reports, managed nineteen NASA programs, including the flight test of a prototype Mars airplane, and acquired four patents. “An excellent study. . . . A particularly rewarding aspect of this book is the clarity of the description of the sequential testing which has made the United States the world leader in space.”—Air Power History “Reed carefully blends technical detail into this in-depth account of the entire NASA/USAF lifting-body program.”—Space Times “Presents an in-depth account of the entire NASA/Air Force lifting-body program written by the engineer who initiated it.”—Aviation History “Provides a human and insightful story of an unusual and very important aerospace technology that has shaped and will continue to shape our future in space.”—Technology and Culture

Expanding the Envelope is the first book to explore the full panorama of flight research history, from the earliest attempts by such nineteenth century practitioners as England’s Sir George Cayley, who tested his kites and gliders by subjecting them to experimental flight, to the cutting-edge aeronautical research conducted by the NACA and NASA. Michael H. Gorn explores the vital human aspect of the history of flight research, including such well-known figures as James H. Doolittle, Chuck Yeager, and A. Scott Crossfield, as well as the less heralded engineers, pilots, and scientists who also had the “Right Stuff.” While the individuals in the cockpit often receive the lion’s share of the public’s attention, Expanding the Envelope shows flight research to be a collaborative engineering activity, one in which the pilot participates as just one of many team members. Here is more than a century of flight research, from well before the creation of NACA to its rapid transformation under NASA. Gorn gives a behind the scenes look at the development of groundbreaking vehicles such as the X-1, the D-558, and the X-15, which demonstrated manned flight at speeds up to Mach 6.7 and as high as the edge of space. Winner, 2004 Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award given by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Michael H. Gorn, historian with the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, is the author of The Universal Man: Theodore von Karman’s Life in Aeronautics. “While NASA means space flight to the general public, this book well illustrates the sterling aeronautical work of the Flight Research Center.”—Air Power History “Well-written and beautifully researched, the in-depth study is a must-read for the flight test aficionado, aviation historian, and general enthusiast as well.”—Airpower “Gorn has written a valuable book about flight testing.”—Almanac of Seapower “Recommended for all readers curious about the development of government-funded US civilian flight research.”—Choice “A very solid and original work. It is extremely well researched, adding new information and perspective derived from hitherto unexamined or unappreciated archival sources. More specialized work in the history of NACA/NASA flight research will undoubtedly result from the influence of this book.”—James Hanson “A welcome revisiting of flight research at NASA.”—Public Historian “A terrific addition to the collection of NACA and NASA histories as well as to the literature of twentieth-century science and technology.”—Technology and Culture “A work of profound and original scholarship by a historian who is a master in his field. It is effectively organized, well-written, and moves deftly and smoothly in such a way as to cover an enormous amount of material. Gorn has chosen a very broad canvas and achieved a stunningly successful result. This is an excellent book.”—W. David Lewis “Captures it all—the Wright brothers, World War II, Chuck Yeager’s historic flight—all written in Gorn’s easy-to-read style. Expanding the Envelope will be a reference text for historians—and some real pleasure reading for aviation enthusiasts.”—William H. Dana

Progressive nineteenth-century Americans believed firmly that human perfection could be achieved with the aid of modern science. To many, the science of that turbulent age appeared to offer bright new answers to life’s age-old questions. Such a climate, not surprisingly, fostered the growth of what we now view as “pseudo-sciences”—disciplines delicately balancing a dubious inductive methodology with moral and spiritual concerns, disseminated with a combination of aggressive entrepreneurship and sheer entertainment. Such “sciences” as mesmerism, spiritualism, homoeopathy, hydropathy, and phrenology were warmly received not only by the uninformed and credulous but also by the respectable and educated. Rationalistic, egalitarian, and utilitarian, they struck familiar and reassuring chords in American ears and gave credence to the message of reformers that health and happiness are accessible to all. As the contributors to this volume show, the diffusion and practice of these pseudo-sciences intertwined with all the major medical, cultural, religious, and philosophical revolutions in nineteenth-century America. Hydropathy and particularly homoeopathy, for example, enjoyed sufficient respectability for a time to challenge orthodox medicine. The claims of mesmerists and spiritualists appeared to offer hope for a new moral social order. Daring flights of pseudo-scientific thought even ventured into such areas as art and human sexuality. And all the pseudo-sciences resonated with the communitarian and women’s rights movements. This important exploration of the major nineteenth-century pseudo-sciences provides fresh perspectives on the American society of that era and on the history of the orthodox sciences, a number of which grew out of the fertile soil plowed by the pseudo-scientists. Arthur Wrobel is associate professor of American literature at the University of Kentucky and the editor of American Notes and Queries.

The eighteenth century, age of France’s leadership in Western civilization, was also the most flourishing period of French inventive genius. Generally obscured by England’s great industrial development are the contributions France made in the invention of the balloon, paper-making machines, the steamboat, the semaphore telegraph, gas illumination, the silk loom, the threshing machine, the fountain pen, and even the common graphite pencil. Shelby T. McCloy believes that these and many other inventions which have greatly influenced technological progress made prerevolutionary France the rival, if not the leader, of England. In his book McCloy analyzes the factors that led to France’s inventive activity in the eighteenth century. He also advances reasons for France’s failure to profit from her inventive prowess at a time when England’s inventions were being put to immediate and practical use. Shelby T. McCloy, professor of history at the University of Kentucky, is the author of several books and articles on European history.