Red Meat Republic : : A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Changed America / / Joshua Specht.

How beef conquered America and gave rise to the modern industrial food complexBy the late nineteenth century, Americans rich and poor had come to expect high-quality fresh beef with almost every meal. Beef production in the United States had gone from small-scale, localized operations to a highly ce...

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Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2019 English
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Place / Publishing House:Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2019]
©2019
Year of Publication:2019
Language:English
Series:Histories of Economic Life ; 3
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (368 p.) :; 12 b/w illus. 2 maps
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Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
Acknowledgments --
Introduction --
1. War --
2. Range --
3. Market --
4. Slaughterhouse --
5. Table --
Conclusion --
Notes --
Bibliography --
Index --
Histories of Economic Life --
A NOTE ON THE TYPE
Summary:How beef conquered America and gave rise to the modern industrial food complexBy the late nineteenth century, Americans rich and poor had come to expect high-quality fresh beef with almost every meal. Beef production in the United States had gone from small-scale, localized operations to a highly centralized industry spanning the country, with cattle bred on ranches in the rural West, slaughtered in Chicago, and consumed in the nation's rapidly growing cities. Red Meat Republic tells the remarkable story of the violent conflict over who would reap the benefits of this new industry and who would bear its heavy costs.Joshua Specht puts people at the heart of his story-the big cattle ranchers who helped to drive the nation's westward expansion, the meatpackers who created a radically new kind of industrialized slaughterhouse, and the stockyard workers who were subjected to the shocking and unsanitary conditions described by Upton Sinclair in his novel The Jungle. Specht brings to life a turbulent era marked by Indian wars, Chicago labor unrest, and food riots in the streets of New York. He shows how the enduring success of the cattle-beef complex-centralized, low cost, and meatpacker dominated-was a consequence of the meatpackers' ability to make their interests overlap with those of a hungry public, while the interests of struggling ranchers, desperate workers, and bankrupt butchers took a backseat. America-and the American table-would never be the same again.A compelling and unfailingly enjoyable read, Red Meat Republic reveals the complex history of exploitation and innovation behind the food we consume today.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780691185781
9783110610765
9783110664232
9783110610178
9783110606195
DOI:10.1515/9780691185781?locatt=mode:legacy
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Joshua Specht.