| Description |
xi, 337 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm |
| Contents |
1. Political Ecology and the Yield Transformation -- 2. Wheat, People, and Plant Breeding -- 3. Wheat Breeding: Coalescence of a Modern Science, 1900-1959 -- 4. Plant Breeding in Its Institutional and Political Economic Setting, 1900-1940 -- 5. The Rockefeller Foundation in Mexico: The New International Politics of Plant Breeding, 1941-1945 -- 6. Hunger, Overpopulation, and National Security: A New Strategic Theory for Plant Breeding, 1945-1956 -- 7. Wheat Breeding and the Exercise of American Power, 1940-1970 -- 8. Wheat Breeding and the Consolidation of Indian Autonomy, 1940-1970 -- 9. Wheat Breeding and the Reconstruction of Postimperial Britain, 1935-1954 -- 10. Science and the Green Revolution, 1945-1975 |
| Summary |
This new book uses a framework of political ecology and environmental history to explore the "Green Revolution's" emergence during the 20th century in the United States, Mexico, India, and Britain. It argues that the national security planning efforts of each nation were the most important forces promoting the development and spread of the "Green Revolution"; when viewed in the larger scheme, this period can be seen as the latest chapter in the long history of wheat use among humans, which dates back to the neolithic revolution. Efforts to reform agriculture and mitigate some of the harsh environmental and social consequences of the "Green Revolution" have generally been insensitive to the deeply embedded nature of high yielding agriculture in human ecology and political affairs. This important insight challenges those involved in agriculture reform to make productivity both sustainable and adequate for a growing human population |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-324) and index |
| Subject |
Wheat -- Breeding.
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Wheat -- Breeding -- Government policy.
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Wheat.
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Wheat trade.
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Green Revolution.
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National security.
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Cold War.
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| LC no. |
96008885 //r98 |
| ISBN |
0195110137 (cloth : acid-free paper) |
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