---
product_id: 14982838
title: "Working the Garden: American Writers and the Industrialization of Agriculture"
brand: "brand: the university of north carolina press"
price: "VT17321"
currency: VUV
in_stock: false
category: "Paperback"
url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/14982838-working-the-garden-american-writers-and-the-industrialization-of-agriculture
store_origin: VU
region: Vanuatu
---

# Agricultural history focus Deep literary analysis Industrialization impact explored Working the Garden: American Writers and the Industrialization of Agriculture

**Brand:** brand: the university of north carolina press
**Price:** VT17321
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Summary

> 🌾 Where literature meets the roots of America’s agricultural revolution.

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Working the Garden: American Writers and the Industrialization of Agriculture by brand: the university of north carolina press
- **How much does it cost?** VT17321 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/14982838-working-the-garden-american-writers-and-the-industrialization-of-agriculture)

## Best For

- brand: the university of north carolina press enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted brand: the university of north carolina press brand quality
- Free international shipping included
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- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Diverse Voices Included:** Insights from Willa Cather to Wendell Berry reveal evolving social and environmental narratives.
- • **Timely Social Commentary:** Engages with themes of technology, gender roles, environmental harm, and migrant labor exploitation.
- • **Critical Reinterpretation:** Challenges traditional pastoral views to uncover complex human-land relationships.
- • **Historical Workforce Shift:** Trace the dramatic decline from 60% to under 1% of farmers in the American workforce over a century.
- • **Literary Lens on Agriculture:** Explore how iconic American writers dissect the transformation of farming beyond economics.

## Overview

Working the Garden offers a compelling literary exploration of American agriculture’s industrialization, revealing how celebrated authors have critically engaged with the social, environmental, and technological upheavals reshaping rural life from the 19th century onward.

## Description

In 1860 farmers accounted for 60 percent of the American workforce; in 1910, 30.5 percent; by 1994, there were too few to warrant a separate census category. The changes wrought by the decline of family farming and the rise of industrial agribusiness typically have been viewed through historical, economic, and political lenses. But as William Conlogue demonstrates, some of the most vital and incisive debates on the subject have occurred in a site that is perhaps less obvious--literature. Conlogue refutes the critical tendency to treat farm-centered texts as pastorals, arguing that such an approach overlooks the diverse ways these works explore human relationships to the land. His readings of works by Willa Cather, Ruth Comfort Mitchell, John Steinbeck, Luis Valdez, Ernest Gaines, Jane Smiley, Wendell Berry, and others reveal that, through agricultural narratives, authors have addressed such wide-ranging subjects as the impact of technology on people and land, changing gender roles, environmental destruction, and the exploitation of migrant workers. In short, Conlogue offers fresh perspectives on how writers confront issues whose site is the farm but whose impact reaches every corner of American society.

## Features

- Used Book in Good Condition

## Images

![Working the Garden: American Writers and the Industrialization of Agriculture - Image 1](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41ApvX5HUjL.jpg)

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*Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu*
*Store origin: VU*
*Last updated: 2026-05-10*