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Courtney Fullilove. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017. 288 pp. $40.00).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n In The Profit of the Earth: The Global Seeds of American Agriculture, <\/em>Courtney Fullilove seeks to correct our historical understanding on a part of the American mythos so fundamental that it has rarely been questioned, even by historians. Focusing on the development of seeds in America and agricultural practices, Fullilove argues that the common narrative of rugged, individualistic Americans discovering the seeds that fueled the Green Revolution is an oversimplified myth. She instead claims that the development of American agriculture was a multigenerational process that was brought about by a complex process of trade, migration, collection, distribution, research, and deliberate experimentation and hybridization. To prove her point, Fullilove has traced the history of how seed and agricultural knowledge was acquired, distributed, and melded throughout 19th century America (1). Fullilove aims to bring to light the various global factors that allowed America to become the breadbasket of the world, ending our reliance on histories that have misrepresented how agricultural knowledge was created (220).<\/span><\/p>\n In order to effectively examine the complex relationships that propelled seed research, Fullilove splits her book into three sections: collection of seeds, cultivation of seeds, and the preservation of seeds (10). In Part One, Fullilove attempts to unravel the complex ownership laws and beliefs that went into the collection of seeds and what they reveal about how and why seeds were valued by various cultures over time (24). In Part Two, Fullilove attempts to emphasize how the collection of seeds extended beyond America and over a long period of time, relying heavily on interconnected communities and migration. Finally, in Part Three, Fullilove connects her material to the present by focusing on the preservation of modern agricultural practices, especially on how the professionalization of botanic knowledge has marginalized the diverse knowledge sources that allowed modern agriculture to exist (154). Interspersed between <\/span>these sections are her own field notes on her search for seeds abroad, which provide global context and evidence of the difficulty in tracing the history of seeds.<\/span><\/p>\n Fullilove relies heavily on primary sources throughout Profit of the Earth, <\/em>primarily focusing on the \u201cboots on the ground\u201d who did the day to day work in advancing seed development. In the collection of seeds section, she utilizes the writings and collections of those who collected the seeds that would eventually make their way to America. For example, by following Morrow throughout his journeys in Japan and Asia, Fullilove reveals the various ideas societies had about the organization and exchange of seeds, and how this influenced what we were able to collect (24). This method works extremely well, as it provides real life examples of how individuals from the poorest farmer to the highest official believed agricultural knowledge should be distributed. These well documented interactions also shatter the myth that American farmers discovered these seeds on their own in the frontier, proving that many countries and peoples share the credit.<\/span><\/p>\n Much of Part Two consists of the personal records of the migrants who brought over the various seeds and how they developed them over time to create the famous Turkey wheat seed which jumpstarted the Green Revolution. These sources trace these migrants, consisting mainly of the Russian Mennonites, and the seeds they brought over that were further developed in their interconnected communities. Sources from farmers such as Warkentein and Wiebe are particularly crucial to Fullilove\u2019s thesis, as they support her argument that migrations were critical in creating American pastures by spreading out seeds among various groups and places (121). Part Three continues this method by following John Uri Lloyd\u2019s attempts to collect and preserve diverse knowledge sources on seeds. Lloyd\u2019s writings serve the book by revealing the complex motives that went into the professionalization of agriculture, and his reactions to <\/span>science\u2019s destruction of knowledge reveal the dangers of the false certainty of modern science (192).<\/span><\/p>\n An outside piece of literature that provides excellent global context to the themes of Profit of the Earth <\/em>is \u201cThe Soviet Union, the United States, and Industrial Agriculture,\u201d by Aaron Hale-Dorell (Journal of World History <\/em>26, no. 2 [2016]: 295-324). Hale-Dorell, perhaps unknowingly, supports Fullilove\u2019s argument by highlighting the agricultural exchanges that existed between the Soviet Union and the United States during the height of the Cold War. By proving that such a connection existed, Hale-Dorell discredits the traditional emphasis on the East-West divide between the two countries. This connects to Fullilove\u2019s work by proving that <\/span>the USSR\u2019s Industrial Agriculture didn\u2019t develop in isolation, similarly to how Fullilove proves American agriculture was also indebted to outside sources. By combining these two writings, historians can gain an even broader understanding of the global development of industrial agriculture and gain further evidence that agricultural innovation relies on exchanges that transcend political and cultural borders.<\/span><\/p>\n It is very likely that Profit of the Earth <\/em>will be valuable to historiography due to the various contributions its methodology has made to other sub-fields. For example, Fullilove\u2019s method of investigating sources provided by a longue dur\u00e9e of forced and voluntary migrants provides evidence of the complex relationships that exist between nations and cultures on the ground level. Rather than focusing on relationships top-down, as many histories do, this method allows historians to examine change in a broader and more in-depth context. While Fullilove obviously is concerned with American agriculture, this method could be adapted to investigate the long term development of things such as American music, manufacturing, art, and any other conceivable aspect of American life and culture.<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, Profit of the Earth <\/em>has contributed to American historiography simply by encouraging historians to give closer examination to the historical myths that define us. Fullilove has proven that the vision of a self-reliant American discovering the seeds that would give America agricultural dominance is a romanticized myth, that American dominance was actually dependent on a multitude of connections with other communities (121). The success of<\/span><\/p>\n Fullilove\u2019s book and argument will ideally persuade other historians to examine similar stories that have been accepted fundamental truths about our country\u2019s identity. It is an unavoidable <\/span>truth that humans will always attempt to use \u201chistory\u201d for their own ends, which often leads to myths such as the one that has supported our understanding of American agriculture. Therefore, it is the duty of historians to examine historical myths in the same manner as Fullilove in order to lift the veil that romanticized history has laid over our eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n Overall, The Profit of the Earth <\/em>is an excellent contribution to the historiography of nineteenth-century America and to historiography as a whole. Not only has Fullilove painted a more accurate picture of the development of American agriculture than existed previously, she has provided historians with an effective method of examining the bottom-up relationships that have fueled change throughout history. Especially when paired with Hale-Dorell\u2019s \u201cThe Soviet Union, the United States, and Industrial Agriculture,\u201d it provides fascinating evidence of the complex global relationships that are necessary for true innovation. The Profit of the Earth <\/em>serves as justification for agricultural history, proving that the field is valid. Any historian or member of the public who seeks to understand how America became the breadbasket of the world would do well to start with this book.<\/span><\/p>\n Zachary Morgan<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Profit of the Earth: The Global Seeds of American Agriculture. Courtney Fullilove. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017. 288 pp. $40.00). In The Profit of the Earth: The Global Seeds of American Agriculture, Courtney Fullilove seeks to correct our historical understanding on a part of the American mythos so fundamental that it has rarely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":537,"featured_media":0,"parent":9801,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9828","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/tuckasegeevalleyhistoricalreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/tuckasegeevalleyhistoricalreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/tuckasegeevalleyhistoricalreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/tuckasegeevalleyhistoricalreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/537"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/tuckasegeevalleyhistoricalreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9828"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/tuckasegeevalleyhistoricalreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9833,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/tuckasegeevalleyhistoricalreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9828\/revisions\/9833"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/tuckasegeevalleyhistoricalreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/tuckasegeevalleyhistoricalreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Western Carolina University<\/span><\/p>\n