The War on Bugs

by Will Allen

Book Overview

In the early nineteenth century, as the American population grew rapidly, demands on crop output increased. Seeing an opportunity to play upon fears from market demand, chemical companies declared war... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933392460
• ISBN13: 9781933392462
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 8.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Great service and great book!

Wow! The War on Bugs is everything a person should know about how we got hoodwinked into using dangerous chemicals in every aspect of our environment. It's eyeopening and a reality to who really owns our Earth. Everyone should know about how marketing ploys are are convincing us to ruin nature and our health. A definite must read!

Handsome Book

You wouldn't necessarily think it from the title, but this is a really well designed book. Invites the reader right in.

Chemical companies' marketing campaigns that have pushed toxic pesticides and fertilizers on farmers

THE WAR ON BUGS reveals the chemical companies' marketing campaigns that have pushed toxic pesticides and fertilizers on farmers for over 150 years. From the packaging and promoting of toxic wastes as 'miracle' answers to insect infestations to how chemical weapons manufacturers sought to expand their products into the world market by billing them as pesticide answers, THE WAR ON BUGS juxtaposes two centuries' worth of ads with documentation of chemical company actions and farmer reactions alike. Both general-interest lending libraries and those specializing in conservation issues will find this intriguing.

Eating Oil:

Eating Oil: "The War On Bugs" Sounds A "Pharm Alarm" About the Toxic History of American Agriculture By Dr. Rob Williams, Vermont Commons editor Read more about this book at [...] East Thetford, Vermont's Will Allen of Cedar Circle Farm is no ordinary tiller of the soil. The former marine, jailed for anti-war protests during the Vietnam Era, also possesses a Ph.D. in Anthropology, a long track record as a citizen/activist, and now, a new book brilliantly entitled "The War On Bugs." Allen's story is a remarkable expose, ten years in the making, that highlights the often-sordid relationship among what might be awkwardly termed "corporate agricultural interests," Madison Avenue, and the U.S. Empire's military/industrial complex. Let's collectively call this trio "Big Pharm." As always, history is a useful starting place. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, author Jared Diamond coined the term "farmer power" to describe the dramatic increase in land productivity (and economic and political might) that emerged with the Neolithic Revolution in agriculture roughly 10,000 years ago, a series of processes that gave us the very best and worst of human civilization. Allen's analysis in "The War on Bugs" charts the arrival of a second agricultural revolution, which began around the time of the so-called American "Civil War" during the 1860s, when U.S.-based chemical companies declared war on two scourges: bugs of every description, and declining soil fertility. Allen's great strength lies in combining short and pithy analytical vignettes detailing the various tools and tactics used by an evolving "Big Pharm" industry with a cornucopia of visual material. Each chapter features fascinating historical reproductions harvested from a wide range of U.S. media - newspaper articles, old editorials from farm journals, pseudo-scientific testimonials bought and paid for by Big Pharm interests, and, of course, ever-ubiquitous advertisements (including some early head--turning work by Theodore Geisel - a.k.a. Dr. Seuss - who was employed by the chemical industry early in his career to sell Pharm toxins to an unsuspecting U.S. public. Who knew?). What makes Allen's work so vital is his exploration of the historical and cultural intersections among a variety of forces: Madison Avenue media marketing, science, corporate power and, most importantly, the process of "farming" itself, a complex and rigorous activity so full of mistaken mythological holes within the fabric of U.S. history that you can drive a John Deere combine harvester through it. Simply stated, farming is incredibly hard work, made more so by forces way beyond the control of individual farmers -weather, crop prices, and the price of fuel - to name but three. The great genius of Big Pharm interests, and "The War On Bugs" highlights it, comes with their use of what Allen calls a "four part sales model" to get farmers "hooked" on their products. To whit