Media Experts

History of agriculture in the West and Midwest

R. Douglas Hurt, professor in Purdue’s Department of History, can talk about the history of American agriculture. He is the author of “American Agriculture: A Brief History,” “The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century,” and “Problems of Plenty: The American Farmer in the Twentieth Century.”

Hurt can discuss:

  • The Dust Bowl.
  • History of agriculture in the Great Plains and the West.
  • Technological changes in agriculture in the 19th and 20th centuries.
  • Political and social environments in American agricultural history. 
  • Agriculture prosperity and decline.
  • Women homesteaders, agrarian socialists, as well as race relations and radical politics.
R. Douglas Hurt R. Douglas Hurt Download image

Hurt is author of “The Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and Social History,” “The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century,” “Problems of Plenty: The American Farmer in the Twentieth Century,” “American Agriculture: A Brief History,” “American Farms: Exploring Their History,” and “The Great Plains During World War II.” Hurt also has written about agricultural history and technology in “Agriculture Technology in the Twentieth Century” and “American Farm Tools from Hand-Power to Steam-Power.”

In 2012, he served as a program adviser for the Ken Burns documentary “The Dust Bowl.”

His most recent book is “Agriculture and the Confederacy: Policy, Productivity, and Power in the Civil War South,” which focuses on the war which took place 1861-1865. 

Contact: R. Douglas Hurt, 765-494-4123,doughurt@purdue.edu

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