{"product_id":"the-profit-of-the-earth-courtney-fullilove-9780226454863","title":"The Profit of the Earth: The Global Seeds of American Agriculture","description":"While there is enormous public interest in biodiversity, food sourcing, and sustainable agriculture, romantic attachments to heirloom seeds and family farms have provoked misleading fantasies of an unrecoverable agrarian past. The reality, as Courtney Fullilove shows, is that seeds are inherently political objects transformed by the ways they are gathered, preserved, distributed, regenerated, and improved. In \u003ci\u003eThe Profit of the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e, Fullilove unearths the history of American agricultural development and of seeds as tools and talismans put in its service. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Organized into three thematic parts, \u003ci\u003eThe Profit of the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e is a narrative history of the collection, circulation, and preservation of seeds. Fullilove begins with the political economy of agricultural improvement, recovering the efforts of the US Patent Office and the nascent US Department of Agriculture to import seeds and cuttings for free distribution to American farmers. She then turns to immigrant agricultural knowledge, exploring how public and private institutions attempting to boost midwestern wheat yields drew on the resources of willing and unwilling settlers. Last, she explores the impact of these cereal monocultures on biocultural diversity, chronicling a fin-de-si cle Ohio pharmacist's attempt to source Purple Coneflower from the diminishing prairie. Through these captivating narratives of improvisation, appropriation, and loss, Fullilove explores contradictions between ideologies of property rights and common use that persist in national and international development--ultimately challenging readers to rethink fantasies of global agriculture's past and future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Courtney Fullilove\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 022645486X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226454863\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/18\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2017","brand":"Courtney Fullilove","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43946341466367,"sku":"9780226454863","price":43.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_3e60284b-3c77-4529-8ab9-222846bf79ee.jpg?v=1681512606","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-profit-of-the-earth-courtney-fullilove-9780226454863","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}