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Food History Bibliography

Food History Bibliography

It can be difficult to find good, academic books on food and agricultural history, so here is a list of some of the best, both older and more recent publications. (I am an Amazon Affiliate and will receive a commission for each book purchased from this page.)

Turn of the 20th Century  Food & Agricultural History

Fussell, Betty. Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef. Harcourt, 2008. 

Holt, Marilyn Irvin. Linoleum, Better Babies, & the Modern Farm Woman, 1890-1930. University of New Mexico Press, 1995.

Levenstein, Harvey. Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. 

Shapiro, Laura. Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1986.

Turner, Katherine Leonard. How the Other Half Ate: A History of Working Class Meals at the Turn of the Century. Berkley: University of California Press, 2014. 

Wilson, Bee. Swindled: The Dark History of Food Fraud, from Poisoned Candy to Counterfeit Coffee. Princeton University Press, 2008. 

Food and  the Great War

Capozzola, Christopher. Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Cullather, Nick. “American Pie: The Imperialism of the Calorie.” History Today (February, 2007): 34-40.

Eighmey, Rae Katherine. Food Will Win the War: Minnesota Crops, Cooks, and Conservation during World War I. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2010. 

Frank, Dana. “Housewives, Socialists, and the Politics of Food: The 1917 New York Cost-of-Living Protests.” Feminist Studies 11, no. 2 (1985): 255-285.

Gowdy-Wygant, Cecilia. Cultivating Victory: The Women's Land Army and the Victory Garden Movement. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013. 

Hall, Tom G. “Wilson and the Food Crisis: Agricultural Price Control during World War I.” Agricultural History 47, no. 1 (1973): 25-46.

Hayden-Smith, Rose. Sowing the Seeds of Victory: American Gardening Programs of World War I. Jefferson, NC: McFarlan and Company, Inc., 2014. 

Veit, Helen Zoe. Modern Food, Moral Food: Self-Control, Science, and the Rise of Modern American Eating in the Early Twentieth Century. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2013. 

Weiss, Elaine F. Fruits of Victory: The Woman’s Land Army of America in the Great War. Washington, D.C: Potomac Books, 2008.

Food and the Great Depression

Poppendieck, Janet. Breadlines Knee-Deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014.

Ruiz, Vicki L. Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Mexican Women, Unionization, and the California Food Processing Industry, 1930-1950. University of New Mexico Press, 1990. 

Willard, Pat. America Eats!: On the Road with the WPA - The Fish Fries, Box Supper Socials, and Chitlin Feasts that Define Real American Food. New York: Bloomsbury, 2009.
​

Food and World War Two

Bentley, Amy. Eating for Victory: Food Rationing and the Politics of Domesticity. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998.

Carpenter, Stephanie A. On the Farm Front: The Women's Land Army in World War II. Northern Illinois University Press, 2003. 

Collingham, Lizzy. Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food. New York: Penguin Books, 2013. (first published in the UK in 2011)
​

Food & Agriculture in the Post-War Era

Levenstein, Harvey. Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

Levine, Susan. School Lunch Politics: The Surprising History of America's Favorite Welfare Program. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.

Marks, Susan. Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. 

Shapiro, Laura. Something From the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America. New York: Viking Penguin, 2004. 
​

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  • Home
  • About
    • Contact >
      • Media Requests
      • Submissions
    • In the Media
    • Speaking Engagements
    • Leave a Tip
  • Projects
    • Blog
    • Book
    • Historical Supper Club
    • Newsletter
    • Food History Happy Hour
    • Book Reviews
    • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Food Historian Bookshop
    • Recorded Talks
    • Historic Cookbooks
    • Bibliography
    • Food Exhibits
    • TV and Film
    • Food Historian Library
    • Digital Downloads
  • Events
  • Members
    • Join
    • Patreon
    • Members-Only Blog
    • Vintage Cookbooks
    • Manuscript
    • Thesis
    • Other Publications