The American Steppes

Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-1-107-50320-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 471 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 685 g

Reihe: Studies in Environment and History

Beginning in the 1870s, migrant groups from Russia's steppes settled in the similar environment of the Great Plains. Many were Mennonites. They brought plants, in particular grain and fodder crops, trees and shrubs, as well as weeds. Following their example, and drawing on the expertise of émigré Russian-Jewish scientists, the US Department of Agriculture introduced more plants, agricultural sciences, especially soil science; and methods of planting trees to shelter the land from the wind. By the 1930s, many of the grain varieties in the Great Plains had been imported from the steppes. The fertile soil was classified using the Russian term 'chernozem'. The US Forest Service was planting shelterbelts using techniques pioneered in the steppes. And, tumbling across the plains was an invasive weed from the steppes: tumbleweed. Based on archival research in the United States, Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, this book explores the unexpected Russian roots of Great Plains agriculture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Moon, David

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; Part I. Contexts: 1. Settlement; 2. Barriers; 3. Bridges; Part II. Transfers: 4. Wheat; 5. Soil science I; 6. Soil science II; 7. Shelterbelts I; 8. Shelterbelts II; 9. Tumbleweed; Conclusion; List of archival collections cited; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Moon, David
David Moon is Visiting Professor at Nazarbayev University in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and Anniversary Professor in History at the University of York. He is the author of The Plough that Broke the Steppes: Agriculture and Environment on Russia's Grasslands, 1700–1914 (2013).