Prime Cut: Livestock Raising and Meatpacking in the United States 1607-1983 - Paperback

by Jimmy M. Skaggs (Author)

Red meat--it's as American as apple pie. In a world where most hunger is alleviated with an occasional handful of grain, red meat's daily appearance on most American tables is a vivid symbol of national prosperity. The red-meat industry is also a powerful symbol. Undulating with the waves made by entrepreneurs and monopolies, shortages and gluts, scandal and government regulations, the industry mirrors the nation's turbulent economic history.

Author Jimmy M. Skaggs traces the development of the red-meat industry from forest-foraging razorbacks in colonial days to genetic engineering of tender, disease-resistant beef cattle.

Scholars and persons interested in livestock raising, agriculture, and America's marketplace will find Prime Cut to be an unflinching account of one of our nation's most volatile, most quintessentially American industries. With the extensive bibliography accompanying this work, the only modern comprehensive study of American livestock raising and meatpacking, readers will have access to countless details of the meat industry.

Author Biography

JIMMY M. SKAGGS is a professor of American studies and economics at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. He is the author of The Cattle Trailing Industry: Between Supply and Demand, 1866-1890 and the co-author of Broadcloth and Britches: The Santa Fe Trade, as well as numerous articles and several other works on western history and business.