Description
Book SynopsisHarvesting History focuses on the example of Cyrus McCormick's invention of the mechanized reaper in 1831 to reveal connections between the historical profession and economic power in the competitive harvesting machine industry of the late nineteenth century.
Trade Review“A fascinating account of one company’s dedication to making its success seem not only natural but emblematic of shared American values. . . . Ott’s analysis of McCormick/International Harvester’s history is a moral tale well told.”—Deborah Fitzgerald, Leverett Howell and William King Cutten Professor of the History of Technology at MIT
“Well researched, well written, and engaging. . . . A significant contribution to the study of historical memory.”—David Blanke, author of
Sowing the American Dream: How Consumer Culture Took Root in the Rural Midwest“A fascinating story of farm technology, advertising, regional history, and mythmaking.”—J. L. Anderson, author of
Industrializing the Corn Belt: Agriculture, Technology, and Environment, 1945–1972“Daniel Ott has pieced together the many lives of the McCormick reaper, illuminating stages that moved the machine out of the fields and into American consciousness.”—Debra Reid, curator of agriculture and environment for The Henry Ford
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Every Salesman, a Historian
2. Producing Invention for Producer Populists
3. Historical Laborers and the Manipulation of the Past
4. Realigning History with the Rising Corporate Order
5. Herbert Anthony Kellar and the Quest for Professional Authority
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
