Food Power
The Rise and Fall of the Postwar American Food System
Bryan L. McDonald
Reviews and Awards
"Food Power is a valuable contribution to the conversation about our food network and reminds future scholarship of the lingering importance of government policy in a system dominated by a multitude of corporate hubs and nodes." -- Jayson Otto, Agricultural History
"Food Power is an interesting book that very usefully illuminates the relationship between American food and American power in the postwar period." -- Helen Zoe Veit, Journal of American History
"Food Power: The Rise and Fall of the Postwar American Food System takes this superfluity of food as its central concern, tracking the political dynamic by which surplus food was either a problem to be eliminated or a boon to international diplomatic strategies....It is a fascinating story that brings together a number of historical strands, including the effect of science and technology on both farming and food production, the role of World War II in creating an unprecedented food system, the challenges of electoral politics, and the various kinds of political philosophy and strategies that different secretaries of agriculture followed in wrestling with these problems....McDonald's book is important and accessible, and it sheds new light on the challenges governments face in balancing production, consumption, and political survival."--Deborah Fitzgerald, American Historical Review
"McDonald investigates how the US used surplus food to create an expansive global food system during the 25 years following World War II. Through historical and textual analyses, the author teases out the complex social, economic, and political forces impacting how the US used food to promote American values and agendas, both domestically and around the world....Ultimately, McDonald describes a transition from this postwar food system to the current food network, calling for a greater global focus on building food reserves. This book could be used in the disciplines of history, sociology, political science, business, and dietetics...Recommended."--CHOICE
"In this compact and accessible book, McDonald illuminates the policies and politics, both domestic and international, of American food. From the postwar food crises of the 1940s to the African famines of the early 1970s, the US caloric cornucopia provided Washington with super-sized leverage in foreign policy. McDonald deftly explains when and how the United States chose to deploy its unparalleled (and unsustained) food power."--J.R. McNeill, Georgetown University
"This brisk account of food and power reveals how US policymakers came to treat food as a strategic resource in the aftermath of World War II. McDonald has provided the critical backstory to current concerns about food security."--Kristin Hoganson, author of Consumers' Imperium
"In this thoughtful and well-researched book, Bryan McDonald considers the rise of a global food network from the long neglected perspectives of diplomacy and food security. His work is judiciously balanced but hardly hesitant to make convincing if controversial arguments that force us to rethink the emergence of Big Agriculture, as well as the alternative farming techniques that have come to challenge Big Food's defining premises. McDonald successfully opens the door for a counter-narrative that takes the edge off old-fashioned economic greed as the primary cause of our 'broken food system' and forces us to think more creatively, and historically, about what we eat."--James McWilliams, author of Just Food
