Potato by John Reader

Potato by John Reader

The long journey of the potato, from Incan gardens in the Andes thousands of years ago to a NASA manned rocket destined for Mars in the twenty-first century

The potato--humble, lumpy, bland, familiar--is a decidedly unglamorous staple of the dinner table. Or is it? John Reader's narrative on the role of the potato in world history suggests we may be underestimating this remarkable tuber. From domestication in Peru 8,000 years ago to its status today as the world's fourth largest food crop, the potato has played a starring--or at least supporting--role in many chapters of human history. In this witty and engaging book, Reader opens our eyes to the power of the potato.

Whether embraced as the solution to hunger or wielded as a weapon of exploitation, blamed for famine and death or recognized for spurring progress, the potato has often changed the course of human events. Reader focuses on sixteenth-century South America, where the indigenous potato enabled Spanish conquerors to feed thousands of conscripted native people; eighteenth-century Europe, where the nutrition-packed potato brought about a population explosion; and today's global world, where the potato is an essential food source but also the world's most chemically-dependent crop. Where potatoes have been adopted as a staple food, social change has always followed. It may be just a humble vegetable, John Reader shows, yet the history of the potato has been anything but dull.

Revd Dr John Reader has been ordained for over 30 years and has served in mainly rural parishes. He has also been Director of Pastoral Theology at a theological college as well as teaching on three non-residential training courses. Revd Dr Reader is currently Rector of the Ironstone Benefice in the Diocese of Oxford, Senior Honorary Research Fellow with the William Temple Foundation in Manchester and Senior Tutor for the Diploma in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies based at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, Oxford. His publications include Local Theology (1994), Blurred Encounters (2005) and Reconstructing Practical Theology (2008). Dr Christopher R. Baker is Director of Research for the William Temple Foundation, University of Manchester, Part-time lecturer in Urban Theology at the University of Manchester, a reviewer for Urban Studies and City journals and a member of the Church of England's Urban Policy Consultative Group. He is a co-founder of the Manchester Centre for Public Theology and the Core Cities Theological Network.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9780300141092
ISBN 10	0300141092
Titel	Potato
Autor	John Reader
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Verlag	Yale University Press
Erscheinungsjahr	2009-03-01
Seitenanzahl	336
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis	Nicht verfügbar