Book Description
The ancient Greeks were for the most part a rural, not an urban, society. And for much of the Classical period, war was more common than peace. Almost all accounts of ancient history assume that farming and fighting were critical events in the lives of the citizenry. Yet never before have we had a comprehensive modern study of the relationship between agriculture and warfare in the Greek world. In this completely revised edition of Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece, Victor Davis Hanson provides a systematic review of Greek agriculture and warfare and describes the relationship between these two important aspects of life in ancient communities. With careful attention to agronomic as well as military details, this well-written, thoroughly researched study reveals the remarkable resilience of those farmland communities.
In the past, scholars have assumed that the agricultural infrastructure of ancient society was often ruined by attack, as, for example, Athens was relegated to poverty in the aftermath of the Persian and later Peloponnesian invasions. Hanson's study shows, however, that in reality attacks on agriculture rarely resulted in famines or permanent agrarian depression. Trees and vines are hard to destroy, and grainfields are only briefly vulnerable to torching. In addition, ancient armies were rather inefficient systematic ravagers and instead used other tactics, such as occupying their enemies' farms to incite infantry battle. Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece suggests that for all ancient societies, rural depression and desolation came about from more subtle phenomena--taxes, changes in political and social structure, and new cultural values--rather than from destructive warfare. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Superb book, uses concrete experience to make a fine point.
The author uses his concrete experience as a farmer in the San Fernando Valley to develop a fine point about the "low intensity" character of Classical Greek warfare. He argues that, the Greek city-states waging warfare through part-time citzen militias, the war strategy of all Greek polities centered on the idea of forcing a pitched battle in order not to keep citzens away too long for harvesting at home. The means used to force such a battle being to disturb the enemy's harvest, which, however, given the low technology tools avaliable and the resilience of the crop-species - specially olive trees - could never amount to permanent damage. Therefore the general low-intensity, boarding game character of much of Classical Greek military history. A fine argued, important book, specially for the firm grasp of the concrete realities at play.

Excellent contribution to understanding Classical Greece
Warfare and Agriculture is a scholarly, yet very readable, analysis of the effects of war on agriculture and rural life in classical Greece.Drawing heavily on contemporary sources, Hanson clearly illustrates theinextricable connection between war and agriculture in the Greek world. With the notable exception of Sparta, Greek infantrymen typically werefarmers themselves who were often torn between their role as ravagers ofagriculture in enemy territory, and the need to tend to their owncrops.

Hanson's main premise is that many previous analyses ofagricultural devastation in classical Greece have overstated the severityof its effects.He points out the ravaging was usually a means to incitebattle with enemy infantry rather than an end in itself, and arguesconvincingly that the ravaging often associated with the seasonal cycle ofwarfare, while certainly contributing to hardship among the invadedpopulation, was far from complete and had relatively short-term effects. Drawing on his first-hand experience as a farmer, Hanson illustrates someof the practical difficulties with destroying the olive trees, vines, andgrains that formed the staples of Greek agriculture.In the course of hisanalysis, he brings to life the Greek countryside and its relationship tothe urban center of the polis.

Although Warfare and Agriculture will beof interest to any reader interested in the classical world, it is probablyof greatest interest to readers with some familiarity with Greek history. The extensive references to contemporary and modern sources, including manyrecent sources cited in the Updated Commentary to this revised edition,guide the interested reader to a wealth of additional information on thesubject. ... Read more

Book Description
Although the need to study agriculture in different parts of the world on its “own terms” has long been recognized and re-affirmed, a tendency persists to evaluate agriculture across the globe using concepts, lines of evidence and methods derived from Eurasian research. However, researchers working in different regions are becoming increasingly aware of fundamental differences in the nature of, and methods employed to study, agriculture and plant exploitation practices in the past. Contributions to this volume rethink agriculture, whether in terms of existing regional chronologies, in terms of techniques employed, or in terms of the concepts that frame our interpretations. This volume highlights new archaeological and ethnoarchaeological research on early agriculture in understudied non-Eurasian regions, including Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the Americas and Africa, to present a more balanced view of the origins and development of agricultural practices around the globe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Book!
I am currently taking a class with M. Altieri and impressed with his writings and passion for the subject. ... Read more

Book Description
This comprehensive survey of modern plant breeding traces its history from the earliest experiments at the dawn of the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century to the present day and the existence of high tech agribusiness. Murphy tells the story from the perspective of a scientist working in this field, offering a rationale and evidence-based insight into its development. Crop improvement is examined from both a scientific and socio-economic perspective and the ways in which these factors interact and impact on agricultural development are discussed, including debates on genetically-modified food.Murphy highlights concerns over the future of plant breeding, as well as potential options to enable us to meet the challenges of feeding the world in the 21st century. This thoroughly interdisciplinary and balanced account serves as an essential resource for everyone involved with plant breeding research, policy and funding, as well as those wishing to engage with current debates. ... Read more

Book Description
*Comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the prospects for agriculture and food supply throughout the world from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
*Examines all forms of agriculture and acquaculture and the economic, technological and environmental factors affecting them.
*An indispensable reference for agriculturalists, economists, policy-makers, development and environment professionals worldwide.

A detailed assessment of the long-term outlook for the world's food supplies, nutrition and agriculture from the world's foremost agricultural research institute. It examines outcomes from 2015 to 2030, covering supply and demand for all the major agricultural commodities and sectors, including fisheries and forestry. From this analysis, it examines the implications for trade, for nutrition and for undernourishment, and the impact of future production on the environment and resource base, and how technology can contribute to more sustainable development.

One main finding is that, without a massive effort to improve development and relieve food security problems, there is little chance of meeting the target of halving the number of undernourished people by 2015. Agriculture is crucial to development, especially where it employs a majority of the population, and additional resources will have to be mobilized. ... Read more

Book Description
The increased efficiency and profitability that the proper application of technology can provide has made precision agriculture the hottest developing area within traditional agriculture. The first single-source volume to cover GIS applications in agronomy, GIS Applications in Agriculture examines ways that this powerful technology can help farmers produce a greater abundance of crops with more efficiency and at lower costs.Each chapter describes the nature of a problem, examines the purpose and scope of a GIS application, presents the methods used to develop the application, and then goes on to provide results and offer a conclusion as well as supporting information. When appropriate, the chapters present the underlying statistical approach for the GIS software that is used. The text also includes a CD-ROM featuring data sets and color maps produced by the use of GIS.Concentrating more on the approach and less on the specific software, the authors describe the methods used to develop an application and discuss limitations to the algorithms and the programming code used. They then summarize the application in terms of what it does, how it works, its limitations, and its potential uses. The book provides a toolkit for the acquisition, management, and analysis of spatial data throughout the agriculture value chain. ... Read more

Book Description
This text follows Cuba's efforts to dig itself out of an economic rut through new and original research concerning production, support systems, quality maintenance, and trade systems of Havana and its urban agricultural sector. Special attention is given to a variety of related areas, including legal frameworks, issues of irrigation, women and their participation in the agricultural sector.

This book has been prepared for researchers, specialists, producers, students, decision makers and those with a general interest in the management and control of the urban environment. ... Read more

Book Description
This is a sweeping survey of American Indian agriculture from its ancient origins to the present. It combines a wealth of historical, anthropological, legal, and economic information in a clear, readable synthesis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Could've been, should've been better.
This book is a broad survey based for the most part on secondary sources.Good surveys should do two things; they should reflect the depth of the literature on the topic and they should unite what is often an inchoate literature into a unified study.This title accomplishes neither of these goals.Particularly the chapters on prehistoric American Indian agriculture are based on a rather thin reading of the literature.One might think a book w/ this title couldn't dodge major scholarly debates such as the one concerning the magnitude of the influence of Mesoamerica on North American agriculture, but it does.The chapters concerning American Indian agriculture in the 19th and 20th centuries are better, though I'd hardly call them definitive.Considering the book is well organized and clearly written, it is ashame the author's skills weren't complemented by more thorough research and deeper reflection. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (5)

USDA Encyclopedia of Wood
The USDA Encyclopedia of Wood has a tremendous amount of information on wood, and is a very good buy for the price.

Wow
I got this book for my dad, because he is constantly building and working with various types of wood. He loves it, and constantly will use it on every single project he tackles. This was a great buy!

An interesting resource
For anyone interested in wood, in its ability to withstand stress, its bark, shrinkage, moisture content, fastening it to things, or even its preservation this is a wonderful book.A work of the U.S Department of Agriculture, Forest Service's Forest Product laboratory it is not strictly an encyclopedia but a collection of essays, pictures and descriptions of various aspects of wood.

The first sections detail types of wood, structure of wood and physical properties of wood.Later sections examine more obscure mathematical concepts regarding wood such as stress grades and structural analysis equations.Important chapters detail types of fastenings, drying and control of moisture as well as protection and preservation.An important chapter examines the use of wood in buildings and bridges.This is not a book that is a `how to' regarding wood.It is also not a book about all the types of wood in the world or how to identify all of them necessarily.It is rather a collection of sometimes seemingly unsystematically collected material on wood and many aspects of it.

An interesting book.

Seth J. Frantzman

Reprint
This is a reprint of the 1999 edition of the "Wood Handbook - Wood as an Engineering Material", a classic reference to those who use wood as an engineering material (illustrations are few and consist of black&white photographs). Several other reprints exist, but this has the distinction of being the cheapest in the market, which will be due, at least in part, to the fact that this is a paperback, while the others are hardbacks.

A great resource!!!
This book is full of information!!! It's got everything you'll ever need to know to work with wood safely and efficiently.If you use it for a living, or if you're just a hobby woodworker, like myself, it's a great reference to have around. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I'm in LOVE with the authors of this book!
This book took me on a deep journey through the indigenous peasant world of Campesino a Campesino, a fascinating movement working for food sovereignty and environmental sustainability. I had no idea of its existence or of the dramatic struggles of its protagonists. On one hand, it is told through the eyes of the peasants themselves as they brave repressive regimes, war, globalization and poverty. On the other, the author weaves in his own observations and thoughtful analysis of how and why these events occur. It is powerfully and passionately written, without losing any of its sharp analytical edge. I learned a lot from this book, and will use it in my teaching and simply to share in the wisdom of the peasants. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

SALT TOLERANT PLANTS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
SALINE AGRICULTURE:SALT TOLERANT PLANTS FORDEVELOPING COUNTRIE

SALT TOLERANT PLANTS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
SALINE AGRICULTURE:SALT TOLERANT PLANTS FORDEVELOPING COUNTRIE ... Read more

Book Description
The UN predicts that over the next twenty-five years nearly all population growth will be in the cities of the developing world. At current rates, sixty percent of the worlds total population will live in cities by 2030.
As the cities grow, so does the number of urban poor. Unemployment, hunger, and malnutrition are commonplace. In the big city, most of any cash income the poor might bring home goes to feeding themselves and staying alive; any food that does not have to be bought is a bonus. As a result, more and more people are attempting to grow at least some of their own food to supplement poor diets and meager incomes. But farming in the cityurban agricultureis too often seen by municipalities as a problem to be eradicated rather than as a part of the solution to making the city and its environment more sustainable.
In fact, urban agriculture has a long history. Throughout the developing world, municipal policymakers are waking to the fact that properly managed agriculture can make a major contribution to a citys food security. It also has potential to provide employment, improve the environment, and make productive use of vacant spaces within the city. More than twenty years ago, IDRC became the first international agency to formally support research on urban agriculture. This book reviews the research experience of IDRC and its partners, including local governments, into the issues surrounding urban agriculture, with a particular emphasis on the influence that research has had on government policies. It describes the growth of city networks in Africa and Latin America that focus on accommodating urban agriculture and improving the lot of urban food producers. And it offers specific recommendations aimed at helping policymakers at all levels of government to maximize the potential of urban agriculture. The book concludes with a vision of how such policies might transform cities in the near future.
This book serves as a focal point for an IDRC thematic Web site on urban agriculture: www.idrc.ca/in_focus_cities. The full text is available online and leads the reader into a virtual web of resources that explores two decades of research into this important issue. ... Read more

Book Description
When Rudolf Steiner gave these lectures eighty years ago, industrial farming was on the rise and organic methods were being replaced in the name of science, efficiency, and technology. With the widespread alarm over food quality in recent years, and with the growth of the organic movement and its mainstream acceptance, perceptions are changing. The qualitative aspect of food is on the agenda again, and in this context Steiner's only course of lectures on agriculture is critical to the current debate.

With these talks, Steiner created and launched "biodynamic" farming—a form of agriculture that has come to be regarded as the best organically produced food. However, the agriculture Steiner speaks of here is much more than organic—it involves working with the cosmos, with the earth, and with spiritual beings. To facilitate this, Steiner prescribes specific "preparations" for the soil, as well as other distinct methods born from his profound understanding of the material and spiritual worlds. He presents a comprehensive picture of the complex dynamic relationships at work in nature and gives basic indications of the practical measures needed to bring them into full play.

These lectures are reprinted here in the "classic" translation made by Rudolf Steiner's English interpreter, George Adams. This edition also features a preface by Steiner's colleague the medical doctor Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, as well as eight color plates.

This is the course that began the biodynamic movement. This is the essential work for anyone wanting to understand and use Steiner's methods of food production. ... Read more

Book Description
It is a cliché that China is the world's manufactured goods factory, but most observers are just as certain that China's farmers are a serious burden on growth. Yet China in fact has the makings of an internationally competitive agricultural sector, with the market setting most prices, farmers shifting quickly toward what they produce best, and significant research and development focused on biotechnology and other promising areas. China's trade interests are changing as its farmers become more competitive, and this transformation will have major implications for world trade talks and global economic welfare. This study traces the steps China has taken to make agriculture a winning sector, the evidence that its initiatives are working, and the course the country is likely to take. ... Read more

Book Description
Pre-2001 Afghanistan has been widely represented as 25 years of war and devastation, leaving a post-conflict reconstruction agenda to start with a clean state. This analysis has ignored the nature of Afghanistan, its complexity, and its fundamental resilience. Through a critical analysis of key aspects of the rural economy and drivers of change, including the opium poppy economy, this book critically explores assumptions made about Afghanistan as a crisis state and post-conflict environment, and its reconstruction agendas and practice, and considers the limitations of the response of the international community.

Bringing together papers by key practitioners and food security analysts, this book provides an important reference for operational agencies and researchers. ... Read more