Review
“an insightful and wide-ranging examination of the domestic and international implications of American food and retail policy in the mid-late twentieth century. . . . Supermarket USA is a succinct discussion of U.S. food systems that will be a welcome addition to Cold War historiography and the history of international food systems. This is an impressive and valuable text that deserves a broad scholarly readership.”—Justin Nordstrom, Agriculture and Human Values
“an insightful book that illuminates a truth that has been intentionally concealed and obfuscated since the early days of the Cold War: the United States’ economy was not the free-market capitalist utopia that the propagandists made it out to be. . . . an extremely useful history of capitalism that utilizes supermarkets as a lens into the workings of industrial agriculture. It is particularly helpful for any-one studying or teaching political economy. . . . Hamilton’s work is essential.”—Courtney I.P. Thomas, Agricultural History
“Like the best transnational studies, Supermarket USA challenges the boundaries and the themes of even the most domestic nation-based history.”—Traci Deutsch, Global Food History
“Supermarket USA is an ambitious, successful study of Cold War economic development as well as agricultural and business history. . . . an essential text for all historians interested in the politics of food”—Adam Mack, American Historical Review
“The Cold War wasn’t just fought with military hardware in proxy wars, but with boxes of cereal and cans of tuna in supermarket aisles. Hamilton’s is an engaging contribution to Cold War history, showing how the technopolitics of consumption, production, and distribution mattered in the last century, and continue to shape the world long after the fall of the Soviety Union.”—Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
“Written with verve and based on a wide array of archival and fugitive sources, Supermarket USA is an extraordinarily important work that bridges the chasm that has long divided studies of Cold War rivalry from the emerging history of capitalist globalization during that era and after.”—Nelson Lichtenstein, author of The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business
“Who knew that supermarkets, of all things, were key elements of U.S. free enterprise, anti-Soviet, Cold War propaganda? Hamilton fully explains how ‘farm wars’ led directly to today’s international industrial agribusinesses. This superb book is a must-read.”—Marion Nestle, author of Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat
About the Author
Shane Hamilton is a senior lecturer in International Business and Strategy at the University of York, and the author of Trucking Country: The Road to America’s Wal‑Mart Economy
