American Harvest

An epic story of the American wheat harvest, the politics of food, and the culture of the Great Plains For over one hundred years, the Mockett family has owned a seven-thousand-acre wheat farm in the panhandle of Nebraska, where Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s father was raised. Mockett, who grew up in bohemian Carmel, California, with her father and her Japanese mother, knew little about farming when she inherited this land. Her father had all but forsworn it. In American Harvest, Mockett accompanies a group of evangelical Christian wheat harvesters through the heartland at the invitation of Eric Wolgemuth, the conservative farmer who has cut her family’s fields for decades. As Mockett follows Wolgemuth’s crew on the trail of ripening wheat from Texas to Idaho, they contemplate what Wolgemuth refers to as “the divide,” inadvertently peeling back layers of the American story to expose its contradictions and unhealed wounds. She joins the crew in the fields, attends church, and struggles to adapt to the rhythms of rural life, all the while continually reminded of her own status as a person who signals “not white,” but who people she encounters can’t quite categorize. American Harvest is an extraordinary evocation of the land and a thoughtful exploration of ingrained beliefs, from evangelical skepticism of evolution to cosmopolitan assumptions about food production and farming. With exquisite lyricism and humanity, this astonishing book attempts to reconcile competing versions of our national story.

Karen Coates and Jerry Redfern spent more than seven years traveling in Laos, talking to farmers, scrap-metal hunters, people who make and use tools from UXO, people who hunt for death beneath the earth and render it harmless. With their words and photographs, they reveal the beauty of Laos, the strength of Laotians, and the commitment of bomb-disposal teams. People take precedence in this account, which is deeply personal without ever becoming a polemic.

When a class-action lawsuit against the US government results in a billion dollar settlement for the aggrieved parties, you’d expect the story to be headline news . . .to be posted on social media everywhere . . . to be adapted to film or even to a popular legal procedural series on TV . . . So why then have so many people never heard of Pigford vs. Glickman? Or the follow-up lawsuit, Pigford II? Or the Black Farmers Case, as the pair of these legal actions is often called? Could it be that the heart-wrenching story of Black farmers in America, and the monumental legal case that brought long-sought justice to them, is rarely told because it reflects so poorly on the US and its treatment of those whose ancestors helped make the nation an agricultural giant in the first place? Whatever the reason, the time to tell the full story has come and the person to share the gripping details is Greg Francis, one of the lead counsels in the historic case that finally helped Black farmers achieve equity. In Just Harvest, Francis narrates the dramatic twists and turns of the legal battle fought and won, and evidences the many years of ingrained discrimination and racism that preceded it. Awareness of this story makes us all witnesses to the history still unfolding— and while parts of what is recounted herein will enrage you, the hope is that this book will also inspire, inform, and motivate you to join the continuing fight for the rights of all Black farmers now and in the future.

A WALL STREET JOURNAL FAVORITE FOOD BOOK OF THE EAR From the author of Queen Sugar—now a critically acclaimed series on OWN directed by Ava Duvernay—comes a beautiful exploration and celebration of black farming in America. In this impressive anthology, Natalie Baszile brings together essays, poems, photographs, quotes, conversations, and first-person stories to examine black people’s connection to the American land from Emancipation to today. In the 1920s, there were over one million black farmers; today there are just 45,000. Baszile explores this crisis, through the farmers’ personal experiences. In their own words, middle aged and elderly black farmers explain why they continue to farm despite systemic discrimination and land loss. The "Returning Generation"—young farmers, who are building upon the legacy of their ancestors, talk about the challenges they face as they seek to redress issues of food justice, food sovereignty, and reparations. These farmers are joined by other influential voices, including noted historians Analena Hope Hassberg and Pete Daniel, and award-winning author Clyde W. Ford, who considers the arrival of Africans to American shores; and James Beard Award-winning writers and Michael Twitty, reflects on black culinary tradition and its African roots. Poetry and inspirational quotes are woven into these diverse narratives, adding richness and texture, as well as stunning four-color photographs from photographers Alison Gootee and Malcom Williams, and Baszile’s personal collection. As Baszile reveals, black farming informs crucial aspects of American culture—the family, the way our national identity is bound up with the land, the pull of memory, the healing power of food, and race relations. She reminds us that the land, well-earned and fiercely protected, transcends history and signifies a home that can be tended, tilled, and passed to succeeding generations with pride. We Are Each Other’s Harvest elevates the voices and stories of black farmers and people of color, celebrating their perseverance and resilience, while spotlighting the challenges they continue to face. Luminous and eye-opening, this eclectic collection helps people and communities of color today reimagine what it means to be dedicated to the soil.

A Japanese-American farmer recounts the challenges of taking over and renewing his family's farm in Del Rey, California, describing the pains and pleasures of farm work, and the perseverance of his grandmother.

A sweeping history of the Latino experience in the United States. The first new edition in ten years of this important study of Latinos in U.S. history, Harvest of Empire spans five centuries—from the European colonization of the Americas to through the 2020 election. Latinos are now the largest minority group in the United States, and their impact on American culture and politics is greater than ever. With family portraits of real-life immigrant Latino pioneers, as well as accounts of the events and conditions that compelled them to leave their homelands, Gonzalez highlights the complexity of a segment of the American population that is often discussed but frequently misrepresented. This landmark history is required reading for anyone wishing to understand the history and legacy of this influential and diverse group.

What's an attractive, successful, all-around-together girl to do when she's dumped at 65 miles per hour on the way to a romantic getaway? If you're Deneen Wilkerson, you retreat to your mother's suburban home in St. Louis for a solitary orgy of snacks, talk shows and mental hygiene. Deneen's crash--and her wildly funny, improbable rebirth--is the basis of this new novel by the acclaimed author of "Somebody Else's Mama" and "Live at Five."

Every September during harvest season, the Cakebread family invites five up-and-coming chefs and a host of local farmers to their winery for a weekend of tasting, talking, cooking, and sharing. A whirlwind short course in winemaking, viticulture, and artisan food production, the American Harvest Workshop heats up as the sun goes down. Each evening, the chefs come together to plan and execute two multicourse dinners using a market basket of ingredients from the Cakebreads’ favorite purveyors. In The Cakebread Cellars American Harvest Cookbook, Jack, Dolores, and culinary director Brian Streeter present 100 recipes and wine pairings developed by workshop chefs and the winery in honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of this groundbreaking annual event. These spectacular dishes—from appetizers to entrees and desserts—are adapted for home cooking in this delicious exploration of Napa Valley’s food and wine culture. Many of the world’s leading chefs have attended the workshop and their recipes are here, including Gary Danko’s Mediterranean Summer Vegetable Gratin, Nancy Oakes’s Warm Chopped Liver Crostini with White Truffle Oil, Hubert Keller’s Provençal Garlic and Saffron Soup, and Alan Wong’s Pan-Seared Sturgeon with Thai Red Curry. For dessert, just try to choose between Charlie Trotter’s Chocolate-Praline Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Cream and Marcel Desaulnier’s Caramel-Banana–Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. Guidelines for wine and food pairing are presented along with profiles of the winery’s finest purveyors, from Cowgirl Creamery and Hog Island Oyster Company to Liberty Ducks, Broken Arrow Ranch, and Fatted Calf. This unique collection celebrates a quarter century of workshops—and the chefs, winemakers, and farmers who come together each year to cook, eat, and drink from the bounty of Napa’s vibrant wine country.

Presenting authentic Native American cuisine, award-winning chef Beverly Cox presents a delicious array of wholesome recipes. With an updated resources listing, this book is key for anyone wishing to work with ingredients native to the land.

On a peaceful August morning in 1985, grim-face FBI agents led a dawn raid on an eighty-acre farm outside Rulo, Nebraska, said to be occupied by a gorup of religious survivalists led by the charismatic Mike Ryan. What they found on the farm shocked even experience investigators. For months Ryan's Nebraska neighbors spoke in whispers of gunfire in the night, the disappearance of women and children, neo-Nazis and white supremacists. But little did the locals know what was happening to those Mike Ryan decided to punish for their &“sins.&” In Evil Harvest, Rod Colvin re-creates a chilling story of torture, hate, and perversion, and how good, ordinary people could be pulled into a destructive, religious cult—a cult that committed unthinkable acts in the name of God.