Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate

Book Description

The impact on climate from 200 years of industrial development is an everyday fact of life, but did humankind's active involvement in climate change really begin with the industrial revolution, as commonly believed? William Ruddiman's provocative new book argues that humans have actually been changing the climate for some 8,000 years--as a result of the earlier discovery of agriculture.

The "Ruddiman Hypothesis" will spark intense debate. We learn that the impact of farming on greenhouse-gas levels, thousands of years before the industrial revolution, kept our planet notably warmer than if natural climate cycles had prevailed--quite possibly forestalling a new ice age.

Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum is the first book to trace the full historical sweep of human interaction with Earth's climate. Ruddiman takes us through three broad stages of human history: when nature was in control; when humans began to take control, discovering agriculture and affecting climate through carbon dioxide and methane emissions; and, finally, the more recent human impact on climate change. Along the way he raises the fascinating possibility that plagues, by depleting human populations, also affected reforestation and thus climate--as suggested by dips in greenhouse gases when major pandemics have occurred. The book concludes by looking to the future and critiquing the impact of special interest money on the global warming debate.

Eminently readable and far-reaching in argument, Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum shows us that even as civilization developed, we were already changing the climate in which we lived.

Customer Reviews:

This author's point is quite different that what we usually hear.......2007-10-01

In the current furor of so much smug certainty about climate change (from all over the place), here is a gent - and scientist - with a different slant. We humans indeed do affect the global climate, he claims, but we started doing so a very long time ago. He concludes the beginning somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago. The first effects came from man's developing agricultural products: from burning forests to create farmlands mainly, thus putting tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Then there came the insertion of a much stronger greenhouse gas, methane, from cattle husbandry and rice growing. This thesis has and will certainly spark much more discussion, and more importantly, research. Mr. Ruddiman had written a summary of this in Scientific American Magazine previously. Much of this book is his discussion to back up his thesis.

Maybe the best strength of this book is its readability. The author's style is easy to understand, as is most of his science. The science gets a little more obscure when he is defending his stance against selected opposing arguments from fellow scientists. This is unfortunate, because some readers will come away from that chapter wondering if he covered the debate, or just danced around them. If your political tendencies tend to the left, you might be upset that the author does not loudly and immediately condemn modern western industrial man for his evil environmental ways. If you tend to the right, you might be upset that he points a definite finger at homo sapiens for being a contributor to climate change. This is why reading this is good for everyone! Since Ruddiman is a scientist, we can assume that he is merely trying to convince us that his research is on the mark. Fair enough.

Unfairly enough, the author-scientist does not quite succeed in keeping his balance as the book gets closer and closer to the end. In spite of his claim that he kept his editorializing until the epilog, the last chapters paint a despairing picture of mankind and what we are doing - and cannot do for the future - to our environment. For a scientist, it should strike the reader as odd that he wrings his hands at the thought of humans never being able to solve our way out of a basically scientific-technological issue: climate change. The fact that there is no serious mention in this book of nuclear energy, low-fuel consumption single transportation, or the many current greenhouse gas absorption projects, clues us that these matters are out of his field. Still, the basic point of this book is new and refreshing, and is worth the price of purchase.

Climate change clarified.......2007-04-12

In a fast 194 pages, with 41 clear illustrations, Professor William Ruddiman gives us the benefit of his many years of experience in Environmental Sciences studying the onset and causes of climatic changes in general, and in particular with regard to the basis of global warming. His presentation is excellent and obviously refined by years of teaching and investigation about this subject matter. You should read this book if you are interested in the evidence about our changing climate, without a sensational biased twist. If you are interested in any of the following questions, you will enjoy learning from this book: What are the influences on our climate created by the earth's wobbling as it travels through its elliptical orbit around the sun? When did global warming really begin? What were the influences of human activities such as early agriculture, wars, plagues, and recent industrialization? How do the oceans and atmosphere interact to produce or buffer climate changes? What are the likely effects of melting sea ice on our homes by the shores? What prices are we going to have to accept in order to clean up our mess? Obviously there has been much said in sound bites currently in the media, but the discussion can be greatly improved by understanding the clear and sensible approach of Dr. Ruddiman.

Turning back the clock on the Anthropocene. .......2007-03-31

When we talk about anthropogenic global warming, we tend to be referring to the dramatic rise in greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide since the beginning of the Industrial era, some two hundred years ago. Scientists often refer to this apparent change in the atmosphere as the "Anthropocene," the beginning of significant human impact on the earth.

But what if the Anthropocene started not with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, but some eight thousand years ago?

William Ruddiman, a senior climatologist at the University of Virginia, makes that very argument in his book Plows, Plagues, & Petroleum. Looking back at past paleoclimate data and computer models, Ruddiman noticed that at around 8,000 years ago, carbon dioxide and methane levels in the atmosphere should have gone down in association with changes in the Earth's orbital patterns known as Milankovitch Cycles. Instead, he noticed that concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane actually increase, albeit slightly and gradually. Finding no plausible hypothesis for this in his knowledge of earth science, Ruddiman turned to archaeology for clues, and found that the rises in carbon dioxide and methane corresponded with the beginnings of deforestation and landscape burning for agriculture, and the formation of Asia's first rice paddies. Even this relatively small change in human land use (compared to today's scale) was enough to start a long-term trend in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, and possibly contributed to the prevention of the next ice age, which he argues is overdue.

It's a compelling argument, and one that Ruddiman describes in an accessible format without being thin on the scientific details. But Ruddiman doesn't stop there; he continues to examine the seemingly anomalous blips in the carbon dioxide record up through the modern age, in an attempt to explain the unusual (but slight) drops in the record that have taken place in the last thousand years or so. Some such blips, Ruddiman argues, follow major pandemics in human history, such as the Bubonic Plague. Following major decreases in human population, large areas of farmland would return to forested conditions and less wood and other fuels would have been burned, which may have accounted for the decrease in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Ruddiman proposes that this drop may have been responsible for the Little Ice Age.

These thought exercises, backed up with computer models and ice core records, are extremely compelling. Ruddiman of course acknowledges that correlation is not causation; that is, simply because two things happen at the same time, doesn't mean that one caused the other to happen. My only significant criticism is with the title; "control" implies a deliberate attempt on the part of humans to forestall the next ice age, which certainly wasn't the case. Otherwise, the book is concise and well-written, and has an excellent reference list (a feature often neglected by popular science writers).

Ruddiman's ideas have caused a lot of healthy debate and inquiry among climate scientists, and have caused a number of people to rethink the assumption that human impact was negligible until the Industrial era. Researchers will continue to test these hypotheses (Ruddiman and colleagues continue to work on the problem, and are now also looking at the impact of the domestication of livestock animals), and while the jury is out on the "Early Anthropocene" hypothesis, in the meantime the ideas (and the book) make for good thinking and great conversation.

~Jacquelyn Gill

How to squeeze a theory that doesn't fit into an old shoe.......2007-03-22

It is regrettable that Ruddiman went unchallenged for so many years at the University of Virginia since I suspect that he might have left the door open for alternative ideas than the conclusions he erroneously came to in writing this book. While Ruddiman has been advancing his theories about mankind's impact on the climate for many years, his conclusions have now been shown to be yet more bad science in a field where politics, money and media hype have ruled for many years.
There are many examples of this in this book, which does not include references to the most recent findings of ice cores which show that the earth's atmosphere has had concentrations of CO2 nearly 20 times today's levels, long before mankind climbed out of the trees. Ruddiman suggests that all of a sudden mankind's short time of walking upright and doing things such as farming, land clearing, building cars, etc. has had a greater impact on the climate than other, far more natural forces have had over the billions of years that the earth has been in existence. While he has a lot of charts and graphs, and he has a lot of history in this rarified field, he really comes to some very suspect conclusions using some very selective observations. And of course the most recent findings regarding the relationship of CO2 and warming, totally debunk the theories and conclusions that Ruddiman espouses about the causes of global warming. ( Increases in CO2 are a lagging indicator of warming, not the cause.)

Is the earth warming up? It looks like it is again, just as it has done hundreds of times in the past, before it cooled down only to heat up again. And no matter how many trillions of dollars worth of "carbon credits" that the signators of the Kyoto Treaty exchange amongst themselves, or Al Gore buys from some peasant as the modern day equivalent of "indulgences" that the Catholic Church sold to atone for sin, the earth will continue to warm, until it cools again.

In reading the overleaf of scientists who agree with Ruddiman's finding, you find the usual cast of CO2 advocates who dismiss legitimate scientific research as being "bought off" by "big oil" while at the same time they live off billions of dollars of taxpayer funded "research" which consists of a lot of junk science produced by hundreds of thousands of scientists, bureaucrats, politicians, news organizations, among others to perpetuate the biggest scam in the history of mankind. It is the scientific equivalent to the "poverty industry" where billions are expended on social experiments which have largely failed to do anything but make "social activists" rich and keep their vassals in serfdom. And irony of irony, much of the CO2 hysteria started with Maggie Thatcher who hyped "global warming" from carbon fuels when she was fighting the trade unions who were producing coal as a reason to go for nuclear energy back when the scientific consensus at the time was the coming ice age.

If you are looking for a book which is actually up to date, and actually has hundreds of references to real research (which this book does not have) you might try Fred Singer and Dennis Avery's book on Unstoppable Global Warming among many, many others who completely disagree with Ruddiman's oft repeated lie that most scientists accept the view that human effects on global climate began during the 1800s and have grown steadily since that time. Nothing could be further from the truth. The earth has had hundreds of episodes of global warming and cooling over many millions of years, some of them far more extreme, and far longer lasting, than anything even the most hysterical hucksters of global warming being caused by CO2 shout about today. It is unfortunate for Ruddiman that he wrote this book before the facts that prove him wrong were discovered in real research.

A great introduction and overview with ample speculation.......2007-01-09

The first half of 'Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum' provides a wonderfully concise and accessible introduction to climate changes science and climate-human interactions. The second half is more speculative and explores how much humans have altered climate over the past 8000 years, with an emphasis on back-of-the-envelope calculations. Others will disagree, but I find such speculative writing important and enjoyable. Climate science is not for the faint of heart yet Ruddiman makes a compelling argument that an educated audience can evaluate and form their own opinions. My only significant complaint is that many of the graphs are very poorly labeled.

Average customer rating:

Yet another great book from Lynn Miller

Horsedrawn Plows and Plowing
L. R. Miller
Manufacturer: Small Farmer's Journal
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Animal Husbandry | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Haying With Horses

ASIN: 1885210086

Book Description

Already a classic! With over 1,000 drawings and photos covering how to plow with horses using older equipment and new implements. Here you will find simple diagrams explaining tricky adjustments for both riding and walking plows. Detailed engineer's drawings of John Deere, Oliver, McCormick Deering, Parlin and Orendorff, Avery, and many other older manufacturers will be immensly helpful to folks restoring equipment. Also includes closeup photos and information on new makes of animal-drawn plows including Pioneer and White Horse. (368 pages)

Customer Reviews:

Yet another great book from Lynn Miller.......2003-06-01

This is a fantastic book from a series of fantastic books by the author. It will never be a bestseller simply because the information it contains is uninteresting to most people but if you want to learn to plow with horses or oxen, this is the only resource there is. This book covers every aspect of plowing, including the appropriate timing of tillage. It also discusses the numerous different types of walking and riding plows and gives instructions for the proper use and maintenance for each major type. There were far to many different plow companies to even mention all of them but Horsedrawn Plows and Plowing mentions all the most common with many fascinating reprinted images from old catalogs and manuals. This is a great book for anyone interested in animal traction, antique farm equipment or agricultural history

Average customer rating:

The Search
The best of Mamet (along with Glen Garry)
Intoxicating prose, uncertain structure
The Amazing Mamet

Speed-the-Plow
David Mamet
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

United States | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Sexual Perversity in Chicago and the Duck Variations: Two Plays
American Buffalo
Sam Shepard : Seven Plays (Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class, The Tooth of Crime, La Turista, Tongues, Savage Love, True West)
Glengarry Glen Ross
Prelude to a Kiss and Other Plays (Playwrights Canada Press)

ASIN: 0802130461

Book Description

Speed-the-Plow's Broadway run is the most recent triumph of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's astonishingly productive career. "By turns hilarious and chilling....the culmination of this playwright's work to date....Riveting theater."-Frank Rich, New York Times; "A brilliant black comedy, a dazzling dissection of Hollywood cupidity and another tone poem by our foremost master of the language of moral epilepsy... On its deepest level it belongs with the darker disclosures of movie-biz pathology like Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon. In a sense Speed-the-Plow distills all of these to a stark quintessence: there's hardly a line in it that isn't somehow insanely funny or scarily insane... [It is a] scathingly comic play."-Jack Kroll, Newsweek

Customer Reviews:

The Search.......2004-10-14

Here is Mamet and men, conspiring, dreaming, angling, betting each other, baiting each other, openly using each other toward some end that maybe, maybe will see the light of day. It's like the fat versus the thin. The big versus the little. The risk versus the reward. Here comes a Mamet gal, ballsy, vocal, impassioned, solely on point to tickle the man, and call him out.
So when the man is teased enough to think beyond himself, risk that reward he so knows is coming his way, to champion something new...wait, in Hollywood....!?
Would a man let down his brother, let go of a fortune, and jeopardize a career to find himself, or even to look?
Would a woman risk giving her body away, shmoozing a guy toward taking that risk, thus advancing her, if she believed the two of them would revolutionize a medium?
Business and Hollywood and Art and Spirituality do not all mix. So says Mamet, and so goes the Reality. A lousy shoot'em up prison flick or an existential apocalyptic art film? The pros and cons are offered in Speed-The-Plow....

The best of Mamet (along with Glen Garry).......2002-06-29

This is probably Mamet's best work, in my opinion, since he focuses on truthful characters without the rather contrived repartee of many of his other plays in which he seems to attempt to develop some metrical dramturgical quirkiness to provide the viewer/reader with a sense of originality. I find Mamet's screenplays usually better than his plays, try The Spanish Prisoner for example. But in Speed the Plow, he provides us with fully fleshed characters who speak like real people (with the necessary artistic license and not so hung up about verbal pyrotechnics. By the way, his style is obviously influenced by studies with Sandy Meisner from the Neighborhood Playhouse. Read the book in the the year of the life of Sandy Meisner "Meisner on Acting" and you'll see the acting exercises that influenced Mamet's writings.

Intoxicating prose, uncertain structure.......2002-03-07

Mamet gives us blinding pace in this spare play, a mere 82 pages in print. It can easily be read in an hour. The rapid-fire exchanges between characters put the reader in the position of a rubber-necked viewer at a tennis match between serve-and-volley powerhouses. If merely keeping the reader/viewer engaged is the goal of good theater, Mamet succeeds, in spades.

But truly great theater resonates after the reader has laid the play aside or exited the playhouse. In this regard, "Speed-the-Plow," superior work though it may be, falls just a bit short for me, although I confess I have not seen it performed on stage, and would jump at the chance to do so. In any event, as a piece of reading, the play is too slight in its ideas for me to classify it as top-notch.

The play is built on a simple idea. Two movie execs, Charlie Fox and Bobby Gould, meet in Gould's office. Fox has brought Gould, his superior, a sure-fire hit, which from all we can gather will be a typical piece of Hollywood pap sure to please the masses. Fox has sold the script idea to a big-time Hollywood performer who has given them a short-time to put the deal together.

Enter Karen, Gould's temporary office assistant. Gould has been giving an obtuse, esoteric novel a "courtesy read," and as a ploy to seduce her, Gould asks Karen to read the novel and give him a report on it. Fox offers Gould a friendly bet that he won't succeed with Karen. Somehow -- and this is a key weakness in the play -- Karen manages in the second act to convince the hard-boiled Gould to produce the film of the novel, at the expense of Fox's project. When Fox learns of this, the following day, he is of course outraged and manages in the end to convince Gould that the seemingly idealistic Karen is in fact no different than either of them and has used Gould sexually in return for the promise to produce the "art" film.

Much of the play's power derives from Mamet's undeniable gift with language. Fox and Gould sound absolutely real as Hollywood types: borderline slimeball, jaded, absolutely devoid of idealism, but very funny, precisely because of all these things.

Language, however, is only one element of successful theater. The motivations of Karen are obscure, but more importantly one is hard-pressed to believe that Gould, who spends much of the play developing in different ways the idea that he's not paid to produce art, would even momentarily be convinced to dump a sure box office smash and endure the humiliation that Fox heaps on him. All I could think of was, That Karen must have been some dame. Trouble is, I didn't get enough of her through Mamet's development to buy that.

I'm a big Mamet fan, and even work that is not his best is for me worth reading. "Speed-the-Plow" was, simply put, intoxicating the first time I read it because of its rhythmic intensity. Even if its intoxication fades a bit in the aftermath of reading, enough of a glow lingers to make the time spent worthwhile.

The Amazing Mamet.......2000-12-04

This is an interesting play, written in a style of short, "clipped" dialogue. It is mainly a story about the ugliness of the movie industry. Interestingly enough, Madonna played the character Karen in the broadway production.

If you enjoy David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross / American Buffalo / The Spanish Prisoner / Wag the Dog), then you should enjoy this play.

(Side note: the language isn't as bad as Glengarry Glen Ross).

Plow Peddler
Average customer rating:
Plow Peddler
Walter M. Buescher
Manufacturer: Glenbridge Pub Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Rural | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0944435181

Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead: Five Steps to the Drop-Dead Gorgeous Garden of Your Dreams
Average customer rating:

Warm, witty and wise

Easy to understand design concepts explained with humor

Lighthearted writing to take seriously

Not Quite As Great as The First

Practical gardening advice in a funny, entertaining book!

Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead: Five Steps to the Drop-Dead Gorgeous Garden of Your Dreams
Cassandra Danz
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Garden Design | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Techniques | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Home & Garden Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Mrs. Greenthumbs: How I Turned a Boring Yard into a Glorious Garden and How You Can, Too

A Year Along the Garden Path: Beyond the Basics - Gardening for All Seasons

Around the House and in the Garden: A Memoir of Heartbreak, Healing, and Home Improvement

Succession Planting for Year-Round Pleasure

ASIN: 0609802658
Release Date: 1999-02-09

Amazon.com

Cassandra Danz takes her gardening seriously--she just doesn't discuss it that way. Her practical advice in Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead is liberally sprinkled with humor (when training a rose to climb, "Don't take guff from a plant."). Danz structures the garden from the big-picture perspective; for example, make your garden a separate "room" or rooms, and carefully develop the most stirring palettes of compatible colors. ("Don't plant magenta next to taxicab yellow!") She discusses the advantages and pitfalls of a single-color palette, such as writer Vita Sackville-West's white garden, and shows how to create illusions of greater space in a small yard. Other hints, such as "the old newspaper trick" of mulching, will make your gardening an Edenic delight.

Book Description

Mrs. Greenthumbs Plows Ahead shows you how to triumph over climate, garden pests, and the design clichés of the typical suburban landscape to make gardening an unrivaled entertainment.

Here's how any gardener, even with limited land, money, time, or experience, can create a glorious cottage garden.
Siting, enclosing, and "furnishing" a garden
Using the classical rules of proportion to balance your garden plan
Making the most of your garden depending upon its angle to the sun
Constructing a garden path, a rusticated arbor, or a wattle fence
Combining trees, shrubs, and perennials for abundance and bloom throughout the growing season
Using color as a unifying theme, accent, or expression of mood
Propagating shrubs and perennials simply and cheaply
Plus a special section on chemical-free pest control and deer-resistant plants.

Customer Reviews:

Warm, witty and wise.......2004-11-18

When I grow up, I want to be like Mrs. Greenthumbs!
This book doesn't have any glossy photos - just so much practical gardening information that it's the BEST gardening book I ever read (and I've read many, many, many). Cassandra Danz shares her successes - and her failures - and hard-learned lessons in a funny, easy-to-read, month-by-month format. I LOVE this!!!

Easy to understand design concepts explained with humor.......2004-02-19

What a wonderful garden book! This is the first garden book I've found that explains the idea of proportion in garden design, with many specific examples to make the concept clear and easy to understand. (For example, if you have a six foot fence, the bed alongside it should be four feet deep. Read the book to get the mathematical formula.) She also describes the idea of "garden rooms" as a way to organize a property's landscaping. Very, very helpful and inspiring.

Lighthearted writing to take seriously.......2002-01-21

I first happened across this book on display at my library and was entranced. The breezy style and down to earth advice were just right for my overworked, January-numbed mind. And after about the twentieth time Cassandra hammered away at the concept of garden "rooms," something finally clicked. I know this sounds corny, but one of those lightbulbs flashed on above my head, and I finally thought, "Hey, I really can do this in my own yard! I can have GARDENS!" Her clear, personal, descriptions of how to create gardens have radically changed how I view my little suburban yard and the act of gardening. And yes, I'm happily planning for spring.

Not Quite As Great as The First.......2000-04-23

I ordered this book because I laughed til I wept reading the first Mrs. Greenthumbs book, and at the same time dog-eared pages to refer back to for specific information. A perfect gardening reference (or would have been perfect, with the addition of good drawings)! This sequel, however, is Mrs. Greenthumbs Lite. Though the lovely drawings in this volume are welcome and helpful, they feel like padding added to a thin mixture. While the material is useful and clear there just isn't much of it. Also, the humor in this book definitely strains for its effects and ends up being more vulgar than genuinely amusing (not the case with Mrs. Greenthumbs I, which is hilarious and, yes, somewhat risqué).

Practical gardening advice in a funny, entertaining book!.......2000-02-29

This is the best garden book I've seen yet, and my shelves are lined with them. There is very useful gardening information here, unlike many of the pretty but impractical British books. It's especially helpful if you live and garden in the Northeast as the author does. She even covers the deer problem and what kinds of things they really won't eat. This book is also very funny and hard to put down. It will be on and off my shelf a lot this Spring as I re-work my garden with her great tips!

Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)

Average customer rating:

Surprising entrepreneurs: Old Order Amish

Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)
Donald B. Kraybill , and Steven M. Nolt
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Sociology | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Religion & Spirituality | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Riddle of Amish Culture (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)
Crisis and Transformation: The Kibbutz at Century's End (S U N Y Series in Israeli Studies)
The Amish Struggle with Modernity
Amish Society
On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)

ASIN: 0801878055

Book Description

Amish culture has been rooted in the soil since its beginnings in 1693. But what happens when members of America's oldest Amish community enter non-farm work in one generation? How will hundreds of cottage industries and micro-enterprises reshape the heart of Amish life? Will traditional eighth grade education still prove adequate? What about gender roles, child-rearing practices, leisure activities, and growing ties with outsiders? Amish Enterprise was the first book to discuss these dramatic changes that are transforming Amish communities across North America. Based on interviews with more than 150 Amish entrepreneurs, the authors trace the rise and impact of businesses in Lancaster's Amish settlement in recent decades. In this new edition, the authors update demographic and technological changes, and also describe Amish enterprises outside of Pennsylvania in a new chapter.

Customer Reviews:

Surprising entrepreneurs: Old Order Amish.......2000-12-29

* Kraybill, Donald B. and Steven M. Nolt. 1995. _Amish Enterprise; From Plows to Profits_. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Pp. xiv + 300. Notes, photographs, references. ISBN: 0-8018-5063-0 (pbk).

Kraybill and Nolt present a history and analysis of Amish businesses in the 1980s and early 1990s. These authors tell how hundreds of Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, engaged in an unprecedented economic adaptation after hundreds of years during which their devotion to family farming as the economic center of life did not change. The new adaptation was a remarkable fluorescence of entrepreneurial activity in which Lancaster Amish created enterprises catering to Amish and non-Amish market needs. These enterprises operate within the strictures of Amish thinking about how people should exist in the world, and this is the central question the authors explore. The contents are broad and include a profile of Amish businesses in chapter three, technology in chapter eight, and marketing and networking in chapter nine. Other chapters cover labor issues, business morality, Amish businesses and the law, and relations with the state.

What is surprising about Amish enterprise is that it exists. To explain this, both in its vigor and in the ways business owners refrain from fully adopting present-day business plans and procedures, the authors use a culture-centered model. They describe how the Amish interpret their beliefs in negotiating the new behaviors and statuses businesses require (pp. 16-19). From one perspective, the process described in this book is a prime example of conscious, selective acculturation.

Negotiation and tension between adopted business behaviors and _Gelassenheit_, a core value informing normative behavior, is highlighted throughout. Gelassenheit asks Amish to be patient and yielding, to submit to the community and to avoid individuation and excess. Gelassenheit asks Amish to be plain and not fancy (pp. 13-16). Business success threatens Gelassenheit. Success creates wealth differentials greater than ones in the farm-based economy. Success affects gender roles because women entrepreneurs own and operate their own enterprises. Success can mean that children receive less attention as business demands increase. Success increases the visibility and importance of business people in district churches, and has fundamental implications for the status of less wealthy but culturally more highly valued farmers.

Kraybill and Nolt do not strive for theoretical finesse but let a few well chosen concepts carry much of their argument about cultural negotiation and economic adaptation. Core values presented early surface throughout as they discuss the problems, solutions and limits of the business adaptation. Like another book that Kraybill edited, _Amish Enterprise_ "...shows no awareness of postmodern theory." (Reschly, 1997). But considering what readers the authors are apparently trying to reach, the anthropological analysis is as theoretical as it should be. That is, Kraybill and Nolt do a workmanly job explaining complex information within a framework of 1) economic behavior influenced by religious beliefs; 2) seemingly inflexible cultural norms that are malleable; and 3) ideas about the family, community and church that are specifically Amish.

The authors are academic experts on the Amish and base the book on a survey of Lancaster businesses, on intensive interviews profiling entrepreneurs and on ethnographic observation. Anthropologists, rural sociologists, microeconomists, church historians and economic development specialists will all find something interesting and insightful in it. _Amish Enterprise_ occupies the middle ground between the mass market and a thoroughly academic monograph; the contents are accessible to a wide range of readers who have a sincere interest in the Amish and their culture.

The text is well illustrated with photographs. The bibliography provides sources of further reading but it is somewhat dated. Comparative material on Amish economic adaptations elsewhere is missing and would add to the analysis. _Amish Enterprise_ is a clear, succinct and detailed discussion of a surprising change in Amish life.

Reference:

Reschly, Steven D. 1997. Review of Kraybill, D. and M. Olshan, eds. _The Amish Struggle With Modernity_. _Journal of Church and State_ 39(2):372. Spring 1997.

The John Deere Story: A Biography Of Plowmakers John & Charles Deere
Average customer rating:

If you enjoy historical biographies, check this book out!

The John Deere Story: A Biography Of Plowmakers John & Charles Deere
Neil Dahlstrom , and Jeremy Dahlstrom
Manufacturer: Northern Illinois University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Business | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Manufacturing | Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Agricultural Engineering | Special Topics | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Illinois | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The John Deere Way: Performance that Endures

Genuine Value : The John Deere Journey

John Deere Photographic History

The Complete John Deere

Pioneer Plowmaker, A Story about John Deere

ASIN: 0875803369

Book Description

Today, John Deere is remembered-some say mistakenly-as the inventor of the steel plow. Who was this legendary man and how did he create the internationally renowned company that still bears his name? He began as a debt-stricken blacksmith who, fleeing debt in New England in the 1830s, set up shop in a little town on the Illinois frontier. There, in response to farmers' struggles, he designed a new plow that cut through the impervious prairie sod and lay open the rich, heavy soil for planting. The demand for his polished steel plow convinced him to specialize in farm implements.

In the decades before the Civil War, John Deere envisioned a company supplying midwestern farmers with reliable, affordable equipment. He used only high quality, imported steel and resisted pressure to raise prices. At the same time, he won respectful affection from his employees by working alongside them on the shop floor. Upon taking the helm in the 1860s, John's only surviving son, Charles, expanded the Moline factories to increase production, started branch houses in major midwestern cities to speed distribution, and began to transform the company into a modern corporation. The transformation didn't come without difficulties however: Charles found himself battling the Grange, facing threats of labor unions and strikes led by his own employees, and enduring patent suits and blatant thefts of product designs and advertising.

Customer Reviews:

If you enjoy historical biographies, check this book out!.......2005-09-08

"The John Deere Story" tells a great tale. It focuses on John Deere's development of the modern plow, his successes and failures as a businessman and his business-minded son Charles' success in promoting what is now an international brand. But what also makes this story great is the insight into the 1800's modernization of agriculture and the development of a modern Midwestern city (Moline, Illinois). Because industrialization was still young, it was interesting to read about trademark rights, competition, sales, antitrust arguments and other modern business practices that were being established at the time the Deere family was beginning to make its mark.

There is a lot of detail in this book, so follow the names of the cast of characters closely. It's worth a read!

Wooden Plow Planes: A Celebration of the Planemakers' Art

Average customer rating:

Wooden Plow Planes: A Celebration of the Planemakers' Art
Don Rosebrook
Manufacturer: Astragal Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Power Tools | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

A Guide to the Makers of American Wooden Planes
Making Traditional Wooden Planes
The Wooden Plane: Its History, Form and Function
Restoring Antique Tools
The Handplane Book

ASIN: 1931626111

Book Description

In Wooden Plow Planes, noted author and collector Don Rosebrook paints a visual panorama of almost 275 years of plane making, providing fresh and insightful commentary on the evolution of the plow plane from its humble origins to its apotheosis as the ultimate symbol of the tool as art. Approximately 200 beautifully photographed planes illuminate, in full and rich color, the extraordinarily high level of craftsmanship involved in the planes'fabrication, showing in clear and close-up detail inlays of silver, bone, ivory and rare woods. Rosebrook provides full descriptions of all of the planes contained in the book. Numerous one-of-a-kind examples are also highlighted and displayed. Super detail pictures are included, showing the characteristic features of specific makers. This book is the culmination of over two years of extensive research and serves as an excellent reference source for collectors and dealers, as well as industrial historians and curators! . It features, among other things: Galleries of nuts and shoulder moldings for identification purposes; Special sections on the Greenfield Tool Company, the Ohio Tool Company and planemaking at the New York Auburn Prison; A special section ona modern planemaker and his work; Many interesting examples of craftsman-made planes; Finely detailed examples of the use of ivory tips, nuts and silver trim, and the use of woods such as rosewood, ebony and boxwood. For those interested in tool collecting or restoration, in industrial history or material culture, or for those who simply appreciate craftsmanship, innovation and beautiful design, this visual tour through a slice of American history will provide both invaluable information and immense satisfaction.

Freedom's Plow: Teaching in the Multicultural Classroom

Average customer rating:

Freedom's Plow: Teaching in the Multicultural Classroom
Jim Fraser
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Education | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Multicultural Education, Critical Pedagogy, and the Politics of Difference (Suny Series, Teacher Empowermen)
The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children
Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African American Students

ASIN: 0415907004

Book Description

Freedom's Plow is the first volume designed to provide teachers and teachers-in-training with the practical resources they need to make their teaching practice and classrooms more multicultural. Parts II and III present the voices and experiences of teachers from first grade to college level who are actually engaged in multicultural teaching efforts. The contributors examine what redefining their practice as multicultural has meant for their work in terms of content, pedagogy, power and indeed their own attitudes and values. The volume concludes by focusing on the power arrangements, perspectives and personnel policies needed if schools are to emerge as truly multicultural, multiethnic democracies.

Plow Naked: Selected Writings on Poetry (Poets on Poetry)

Average customer rating:

Plow Naked: Selected Writings on Poetry (Poets on Poetry)
Fred Chappell
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0472065424

Book Description

A collection of practical criticism on the relationship between poetry and society.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books