- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford; New Ed edition (2 Mar 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0198208138
- ISBN-13: 978-0198208136
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.4 x 2.6 cm
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,297,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #99 in Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Black Death
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Review
"Thirsk writes with relish about the successes and failures of alternative agriculture. Her book is a delightful guide to a subject that has perhaps not been treated in the past with the seriousness it deserves. Certainly, no one has ever written such a clever synthesis as this."--Historian
"Thirsk's brilliant study of six centuries of British agriculture affirms her status as the preeminent scholar of the subject...Thirsk's fascinating study is rich in detail about the successes and failures of experimentation, and it stresses the importance of regional specialization, the clear patterns that characterized each period, the lessons learned that permanently influenced British agriculture, economy, and diet, and the lessons forgotten only to be learned again. Highly recommended to readers and libraries interested in British studies, agricultural history, and the history of diet and nutrition."--Choice
"It presents a detailed and moving account of the energy, initiative, vision,
Product Description
People like to believe in a past golden age of traditional English countryside, before large farms, machinery, and the destruction of hedgerows changed the landscape forever. However, that countryside may have looked both more and less familiar than we imagine. Take todays startling yellow fields of rapeseed, seemingly more suited to the landscape of Van Gogh than Constable. They were, in fact, thoroughly familiar to fieldworkers in seventeenth-century England. At the same time, some features that would have gone unremarked in the past now seem like oddities. In the fifteenth century, rabbit warrens were specially guarded to rear rabbits as a luxury food for rich mens tables; whilst houses had moats not only to defend them but to provide a source of fresh fish. In the 1500s we find Catherine of Aragon introducing the concept of a fresh salad to the court of Henry VIII; and in the 1600s, artichoke gardens became a fashion of the gentry in their hope of producing more male heirs. The common tomato, suspected of being poisonous in 1837, was transformed into a household vegetable by the end of the nineteenth century, thanks to cheaper glass-making methods and the resulting increase in glasshouses. In addition to these images of past lives, Joan Thirsk reveals how the forces which drive our current interest in alternative forms of agriculture a glut of meat and cereal crops, changing dietary habits, the needs of medicine have striking parallels with earlier periods in our history. She warns us that todays decisions should not be made in a historical vacuum: we can find solutions to our current problems in the experience of people in the past.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Historical Perspective Relevant to the Local Food Movement
1 Mar 2008
Though written as an academic publication, this book moves quickly to document changes in agricultural practice caused by fluctuations in population and food demands. Thirsk's basic premise is that at several points in British history (incuding after the black death, and during the agricultural depression of the late 19th century) overproduction of commodity crops (such as corn and grain) has been followed by an "alternative agriculture" that involves diversification of crops to include industrial crops and expanded production of fruits and vegetables. When farms switched from grain to vegetables they got smaller, more productive, and more labor-intensive, and introduced new and healthful foods to local populations. New foods were often adopted by the elite before becoming available to the lower and middle classes.
Reading this book in 2008, eight years after it was originally published, it is all the more relevant. The state of agriculture is changing quickly: a glut of low-priced commodity crops could have inspired more diverse farming, but a movement to production of fuel crops then increased commodity crop prices. At the same time, however; the locavore movement is demanding a transition to the type of alternative agriculture that Thirsk documents. Although Thirsk focuses her research solely on British agricultural history, her book provides terrific perspective on all of these issues.
Reading this book in 2008, eight years after it was originally published, it is all the more relevant. The state of agriculture is changing quickly: a glut of low-priced commodity crops could have inspired more diverse farming, but a movement to production of fuel crops then increased commodity crop prices. At the same time, however; the locavore movement is demanding a transition to the type of alternative agriculture that Thirsk documents. Although Thirsk focuses her research solely on British agricultural history, her book provides terrific perspective on all of these issues.
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