Cattle in the Cotton Fields: A History of Cattle Raising in Alabama

This first history of cattle raising in a southern state documents the development of the industry in Alabama from colonial times to the present within the broader contexts of southern and American agricultural history. Cattle raising today is the most widely practiced form of agriculture in Alabama and ranks second only to the poultry industry in terms of revenue. Brooks Blevins not only relates the development and relative importance of the industry to agricultural practices but also presents it as an integral component of southern history, inextricably linked to issues of sectional politics, progressivism, race and class struggles, and rural depopulation. Blevins's study increases our understanding of the history of southern agriculture by providing a valuable model of a story repeated throughout the South.