The untold story of how meat made America: a tale of the self-made magnates, pragmatic farmers, and impassioned activists who shaped us into the greatest eaters and providers of meat in history"Ogle is a terrific writer, and she takes us on a brisk romp through two centuries of history, full of deft portraits of entrepreneurs, inventors, promoters and charlatans.... Ms. Ogle believes, all exceptions admitted, that [the food industry] has delivered Americans good value, and her book makes that case in fascinating detail." —Wall Street Journal
The moment European settlers arrived in North America, they began transforming the land into a meat-eater’s paradise. Long before revolution turned colonies into nation, Americans were eating meat on a scale the Old World could neither imagine nor provide: an average European was lucky to see meat once a week, while even a poor American man put away about two hundred pounds a year.
Maureen Ogle guides us from that colonial paradise to the urban meat-making factories of the nineteenth century to the hyperefficient packing plants of the late twentieth century. From Swift and Armour to Tyson, Cargill, and ConAgra. From the 1880s cattle bonanza to 1980s feedlots. From agribusiness to today’s “local” meat suppliers and organic countercuisine. Along the way, Ogle explains how Americans’ carnivorous demands shaped urban landscapes, midwestern prairies, and western ranges, and how the American system of meat making became a source of both pride and controversy.
"From the colonial origins of America’s carnivorous culture to the emergence of factory farming, Maureen Ogle provides a clear-eyed analysis of America’s meat-loving lifestyle, showing that concerns about the role of large corporations and worries about safety are far from new. This is history you can really sink your teeth into." —Tom Standage, author of
A History of the World in 6 Glasses"To understand why we feel the way we do about meat, we have to know how we got here. Maureen Ogle illuminates today’s debates by making us understand yesterday’s. That will help us with our choices tomorrow." —Alan Bjerga, author of
Endless Appetites: How the Commodities Casino Creates Hunger and Unrest"This is a lively and engaging history, balanced and fair-minded. It should cause many of us to rethink our knee-jerk condemnations of ‘factory-farming’ and the agro-corporations that dominate the American food system. It sure did that for me." —Harvey Levenstein, author of
Fear of Food: Why We Worry about What We Eat"Given the recent onslaught of publications picking sides on the issues of food production, Ogle’s bipartisan approach is a breath of fresh air...it can't be denied that Ogle has served up a lot of truth." —
Publishers Weekly"An informative and entertaining narrative of the complexities of a massive industry, in which the author lays bare Americans’ sense of entitlement and insistence on cheap and abundant meat and questions what that voracious appetite has wrought on our bodies and the environment."
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Kirkus Reviews"A well-researched history of the American meat industry that will appeal to readers looking for a counterpoint to
Fast Food Nation and
The Omnivore’s Dilemma." —
BooklistPraise for AMBITIOUS BREW: "Ms. Ogle tells [beer's] story with appreciation for the new school of brewers but without the snarky prejudice against the big corporate beer companies that is so common to today's beer snobs. It is one of the virtues of her history of American beer that Ms. Ogle isn't afraid to admit admiration for the bold risks and ambitions of the capitalists -- then and now -- who have made beer their business."--Wall Street Journal
"Ogle, in telling the story of the great beer families, takes the air out of a few myths, chief among them the standard narrative used to explain beer's sad decline in quality to the pale, tasteless, mass-market drink advertised these days on televised sports... [I]f Ms. Ogle's very amusing account of the chicanery and politicking at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 is any guide, medals awarded must be regarded with some skepticism. "--William Grimes, The New York Times "From lager-making German immigrants to today's microbrew-meisters, a sudsy, briskly told survey of American beer. B+"--Entertainment Weekly
"This 'first ever history of American beer' by historian Maureen Ogle is as much painstakingly researched microcosm of American entrepreneurialism as it is a love letter to the country's favorite buzz-producing beverage... Throughout, the author's genial approach helps make the material accessible. Ogle has the pitch-perfect voice for this pop-history format, effortlessly switching from technical to folksy style depending on what she's describing. The result:
Ambitious Brew goes down as brisk and refreshingly as, well, you know..."--New York Post "Maureen Ogle's
Ambitious Brew is an entertaining, enlightening telling of the history of beer in the United States. It's a tale of cunning innovation, back stabbing, ferocious competition and ever-changing public tastes."--Miami Herald "Ogle expertly weaves the remarkable growth of the beer business into a fascinating and well-documented social history that sheds fresh light on the bubbly sociable beverage."--Chicago Tribune "Ogle's book is highly engaging, anecdotal and based on indefatigable research in old records and letters... This is a rollicking tale... 'Ambitious Brew' is a fine story and explains a great deal about how our beer got to be so bland."--Bloomberg.com
