A Review of “HARVEST HERITAGE: AGRICULTURAL ORIGINS AND HEIRLOOM CROPS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST”

Abstract

full critique of vegetarianism, which despite its early focus upon social reform and equality, has often been a primarily white and middle-class movement led by a cast of male characters. Finally, the main argument loses steam in the book’s conclusion, as Shprintzen depicts the unraveling of “movement” vegetarianism, while vaguely gesturing to the mainstream status vegetarianism held in the twentieth century. He does so by citing 1943 Gallup poll results that found between 2.5 and 3 million Americans self-identified as vegetarians. He makes this somewhat illogical jump from 1921 to 1943 without explanation or connection to present day, both of which would have made for a more satisfying reader experience and more impactful conclusion. In the end, however, Shprintzen offers a fine history of the vegetarian movement, effectively elucidating the evolving nature of reform efforts over the course of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. He successfully complicates these changes, as he situates them within the broader context of urbanization, industrialization, consumerism, and American expansion. Well researched, highly accessible, and easy to digest, The Vegetarian Crusade is sure to be of interest to a broad audience, as well as to scholars and students of food studies, nutrition, public health, the history of medicine, nineteenth and twentieth century American history, and reform movements.