In this second edition, David B. Danbom expands and deepens his coverage of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, focusing on the changes in agriculture and rural life since 1945. He discusses the alarming decline of agriculture as a productive enterprise and the parallel disintegration of farm families into demographic insignificance. In a new and provocative afterword, Danbom reflects on whether a distinctive style of rural life exists any longer.
Combining mastery of existing scholarship with a fresh approach to new material, Born in the Country continues to define the field of American rural history.
David B. Danbom is a professor of history at North Dakota State University, Fargo. His books include The Resisted Revolution: Urban America and the Industrialization of Agriculture, 1900–1930.