The Conquest of Bread

150 Years of Agribusiness in California

Richard A. Walker

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Hardback

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English

The New Press
20 January 2005

Industrialisation & industrial history; Agriculture & related industries

For over a century, California has been the world's most advanced agricultural zone, an agrarian juggernaut that not only outproduces every state in America, but also most countries. California's success, however, has come at significant costs. Never a family-farm region like the Midwest, California's landscape and Mediterranean climate have been manipulated and exploited to serve modern business interests. Home to gargantuan accomplishments such as the world's largest water storage and transfer network, California also relies on an army of Mexican farm laborers who live and work under dismal conditions.

In The Conquest of Bread, acclaimed historian Richard A. Walker offers a wide-angle overview of the agro-industrial system of production in California from farm to table. He lays bare the long evolution of each link in the food chain, showing how a persistent emphasis on productivity and growth allowed California to outpace agriculture elsewhere in the United States. Full of thunder and surprises, The Conquest of Bread allows the reader to weigh the claims of both boosters and critics in the debate over the most extraordinary agricultural profusion in the modern world.

By: Richard A. Walker
Imprint: The New Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 200mm, Width: 155mm, Spine: 33mm
Weight: 609g
ISBN: 9781565848771
ISBN 10: 1565848772
Pages: 382
Publication Date: 20 January 2005
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Richard A. Walker is Professor and past Chair of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley. He is author, with Michael Storper, of The Capitalist Imperative and, with Andrew Sayer, of The New Social Economy. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Reviews for The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California

A major work of geographic and social theory. This book is must reading for... all those concerned with the technological, organizational, economic and geographic dimensions of technologically advanced societies. -RICHARD FLORIDA, AUTHOR OF THE RISE OF THE CREATIVE CLASS No one hereafter will ignore-be able to Ignore-[Walker's] argument and challenge on how to think about capitalist development. -ROBERT BEAUREGARD, AUTHOR OF VOICES OF DECLINE Walker advances the Intellectual project and cause of our discipline like few others. -MERIC GERTLER, AUTHOR OF THE NEW INDUSTRIAL GEOGRAPHY A telephone book and a check book are the only items needed by a modern farm operator. -ANN SCHEURING, CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE