 | Sweet Tyranny: Migrant Labor, Industrial Agriculture, and Imperial Politics Subjects: Migrant agricultural laborers -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century; Child migrant agricultural laborers -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century; Agricultural laborers Foreign -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century; Rural industries -- Middle We; In this innovative grassroots to global study, Kathleen Mapes explores how the sugar beet industry transformed the rural Midwest by introducing large factories, contract farming, and foreign migrant labor. Identifying rural areas as centers for modern American industrialism, Mapes contributes to an ongoing reorientation of labor history from urban factory workers to rural migrant workers. She engages with a full range of individuals, including Midwestern family farmers, industrialists, Eastern European and Mexican immigrants, child laborers, rural reformers, Washington politicos, and colonial interests. Engagingly written, Sweet Tyranny demonstrates that capitalism was not solely a force from above but was influenced by the people below who defended their interests in an ever-expanding imperialist market. Kathleen Mapes is an associate professor of history at the State University of New York, Geneseo. |
