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Creating Abundance: Biological Innovation and American Agricultural Development. By Alan L. Olmstead and Paul W. Rhode. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 480 pp., $23.99, paperback, ISBN 978- 0-521-67387-7.
Creating Abundance is an enjoyable and informative read for those interested in the development of US agriculture from colonial times to 1940. Its primary contribution is to elucidate the tremendous number and variety of biological and institutional innovations that occurred during this period for crops and livestock. The standard account typically argues for a preeminent role for mechanization in American agricultural development, particularly the idea that "machine makers such as Eli Whitney and Cyrus McCormick revolutionized American agriculture" (4). Olmstead and Rhode assemble the...