Breadlines Knee-Deep in Wheat

Food Assistance in the Great Depression

Nonfiction, Food & Drink, Food Writing, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Breadlines Knee-Deep in Wheat by Janet Poppendieck, University of California Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Janet Poppendieck ISBN: 9780520958425
Publisher: University of California Press Publication: April 26, 2014
Imprint: University of California Press Language: English
Author: Janet Poppendieck
ISBN: 9780520958425
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication: April 26, 2014
Imprint: University of California Press
Language: English

At no time during the Great Depression was the contradiction between agriculture surplus and widespread hunger more wrenchingly graphic than in the government's attempt to raise pork prices through the mass slaughter of miliions of "unripe" little pigs. This contradiction was widely perceived as a "paradox." In fact, as Janet Poppendieck makes clear in this newly expanded and updated volume, it was a normal, predictable working of an economic system rendered extreme by the Depression. The notion of paradox, however, captured the imagination of the public and policy makers, and it was to this definition of the problem that surplus commodities distribution programs in the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations were addressed.

This book explains in readable narrative how the New Deal food assistance effort, originally conceived as a relief measure for poor people, became a program designed to raise the incomes of commercial farmers. In a broader sense, the book explains how the New Deal years were formative for food assistance in subsequent administrations; it also examines the performance--or lack of performance--of subsequent in-kind relief programs.

Beginning with a brief survey of the history of the American farmer before the depression and the impact of the Depression on farmers, the author describes the development of Hoover assistance programs and the events at the end of that administration that shaped the "historical moment" seized by the early New Deal. Poppendieck goes on to analyze the food assistance policies and programs of the Roosevelt years, the particular series of events that culminated in the decision to purchase surplus agriculture products and distribute them to the poor, the institutionalization of this approach, the resutls achieved, and the interest groups formed. The book also looks at the takeover of food assistance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its gradual adaptation for use as a tool in the maintenance of farm income. Utliizing a wide variety of official and unofficial sources, the author reveals with unusual clarity the evolution from a policy directly responsive to the poor to a policy serving mainly democratic needs.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

At no time during the Great Depression was the contradiction between agriculture surplus and widespread hunger more wrenchingly graphic than in the government's attempt to raise pork prices through the mass slaughter of miliions of "unripe" little pigs. This contradiction was widely perceived as a "paradox." In fact, as Janet Poppendieck makes clear in this newly expanded and updated volume, it was a normal, predictable working of an economic system rendered extreme by the Depression. The notion of paradox, however, captured the imagination of the public and policy makers, and it was to this definition of the problem that surplus commodities distribution programs in the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations were addressed.

This book explains in readable narrative how the New Deal food assistance effort, originally conceived as a relief measure for poor people, became a program designed to raise the incomes of commercial farmers. In a broader sense, the book explains how the New Deal years were formative for food assistance in subsequent administrations; it also examines the performance--or lack of performance--of subsequent in-kind relief programs.

Beginning with a brief survey of the history of the American farmer before the depression and the impact of the Depression on farmers, the author describes the development of Hoover assistance programs and the events at the end of that administration that shaped the "historical moment" seized by the early New Deal. Poppendieck goes on to analyze the food assistance policies and programs of the Roosevelt years, the particular series of events that culminated in the decision to purchase surplus agriculture products and distribute them to the poor, the institutionalization of this approach, the resutls achieved, and the interest groups formed. The book also looks at the takeover of food assistance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its gradual adaptation for use as a tool in the maintenance of farm income. Utliizing a wide variety of official and unofficial sources, the author reveals with unusual clarity the evolution from a policy directly responsive to the poor to a policy serving mainly democratic needs.

More books from University of California Press

Cover of the book Colonial Project, National Game by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book How Race Is Made in America by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book Foundations of Wildlife Diseases by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book Hizmet Means Service by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book The Last Great Strike by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book We Sell Drugs by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book Frozen Earth by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book Ghosts of Futures Past by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book From Alexander to Jesus by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book Funny Pictures by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book Robert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book Hard Work by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book Humanitarianism and Mass Migration by Janet Poppendieck
Cover of the book The Stickup Kids by Janet Poppendieck
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy