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9780198208136

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Thirsk writes with relish about the successes and failures of alternative agriculture. Her book is a delightful guide to a subject that has perhaps not been treated in the past with the seriousness it deserves. Certainly, no one has ever written such a clever synthesis as this. --Historian<br> Thirsk's brilliant study of six centuries of British agriculture affirms her status as the preeminent scholar of the subject...Thirsk's fascinating study is rich in detail about the successes and failures of experimentation, and it stresses the importance of regional specialization, the clear patterns that characterized each period, the lessons learned that permanently influenced British agriculture, economy, and diet, and the lessons forgotten only to be learned again. Highly recommended to readers and libraries interested in British studies, agricultural history, and the history of diet and nutrition. --Choice<br> It presents a detailed and moving account of the energy, initiative, vision, courage, success, and failure that went into the quest to wrest a living from the land during those times when mainstream agriculture's ability to grow wheat and meat outstripped the market's ability to absorb them....rich in example and understanding. --Albion<br>

Thirsk writes with relish about the successes and failures of alternative agriculture. Her book is a delightful guide to a subject that has perhaps not been treated in the past with the seriousness it deserves. Certainly, no one has ever written such a clever synthesis as this. --Historian Thirsk's brilliant study of six centuries of British agriculture affirms her status as the preeminent scholar of the subject...Thirsk's fascinating study is rich in detail about the successes and failures of experimentation, and it stresses the importance of regional specialization, the clear patterns that characterized each period, the lessons learned that permanently influenced British agriculture, economy, and diet, and the lessons forgotten only to be learned again. Highly recommended to readers and libraries interested in British studies, agricultural history, and the history of diet and nutrition. --Choice It presents a detailed and moving account of the energy, initiative, vision, courage, success, and failure that went into the quest to wrest a living from the land during those times when mainstream agriculture's ability to grow wheat and meat outstripped the market's ability to absorb them....rich in example and understanding. --Albion

We only imagine that 'alternative agriculture' is a new phenomenon because we are ignorant of our own history. As this fascinating account of British countryside shows, at least three phases of diversification from mainstream farming - the production of cereals and meat - can be documented before the present one: the first lasted from about 1350 to 1500 (into grass to graze sheep), the second from at least 1650 until 1750 (into rapeseed, wood and hops) and the third from 1879 to 1939 (into dairy farming and poultry keeping). (Kirkus UK)

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Dr Thirsk, CBE, FBA, was Reader in Economic History at Oxford University from 1965-1983, and has twice been President of the British Agricultural History Society

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