Red Meat Republic

A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Changed America

By: Joshua Specht

Narrated by: John Chancer

Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

How beef conquered America and gave rise to the modern industrial food complex

By the late 19th century, Americans rich and poor had come to expect high-quality fresh beef with almost every meal. Beef production in the United States had gone from small-scale, localized operations to a highly centralized industry spanning the country, with cattle bred on ranches in the rural West, slaughtered in Chicago, and consumed in the nation’s rapidly growing cities. Red Meat Republic tells the remarkable story of the violent conflict over who would reap the benefits of this new industry and who would bear its heavy costs.

Joshua Specht puts people at the heart of his story - the big cattle ranchers who helped to drive the nation’s westward expansion, the meatpackers who created a radically new kind of industrialized slaughterhouse, and the stockyard workers who were subjected to the shocking and unsanitary conditions described by Upton Sinclair in his novel The Jungle. Specht brings to life a turbulent era marked by Indian wars, Chicago labor unrest, and food riots in the streets of New York. He reveals how the enduring success of the cattle-beef complex - centralized, low cost, and meatpacker dominated - was a consequence of the meatpackers’ ability to make their interests overlap with those of a hungry public, while the interests of struggling ranchers, desperate workers, and bankrupt butchers took a backseat. America - and the American table - would never be the same again.

Compelling and unfailingly enjoyable, Red Meat Republic reveals the complex history of exploitation and innovation behind the food we consume today.

©2019 Joshua Specht (P)2019 Princeton University Press

Ve Surprizingly enjoyable.

I was expecting this book to be dry. The author makes the subject a great historical read.

An excellent introduction that covers all the bases

This is a genuinely great introductory commodity history of beef which weaves together labor history, economic history, environmental history, the history of the wars against indigenous nations, and the cultural history of beef consumption.

Very readable history, through great narration

The narrative is very wholesome, giving a broad picture of various aspects of the meat industry. The narrator was wonderful and helped make for a great listening experience.

Deep focus in 1880’s-early 1900’s

Food/meat history buffs will enjoy this. Who doesn’t like integral historical accounts of the country’s foundation.

The poor, defenseless cattle loses against the misguided homo sapien who thought red meat served their interests (when it did not).

Nevertheless, there is no turning back history and evolution can be dark and ugly. Throw capitalism into the mix, and now the world faces novel obesity and disease problems stemming from big corporations’ greed.

In short, ditch the burger and make a salad. Do it for your health, the animal, and the earth.

a good intro to the subject but it stopped there

the book seemed like an intro for the actual book that should have been written. very superficial and lacking in references to the writers comments