From the first pairs of livestock brought across the Atlantic by the early colonists to the Westward expansion that was as much about cattle as covered wagons to the rise of the nation’s great urban settlements in the 19th century, the raising, processing and marketing of meat has been a central chapter in the American experience.
The breadth and the impact of that experience and the principals central to that story is captured in a new commemorative book, “Larger Than Life: Legends of the Meat Industry.” Published by the Meat Industry Hall of Fame, this hardcover, coffee table keepsake is scheduled for release in August 2009.
You can sign up here to reserve your personal copy and also opt in receive the “MIHOF News” e-newsletter, keeping you up to date with the events surrounding the induction of the Charter Class of Meat Industry Hall of Fame in October 2009.
“Larger Than Life” features the lives, the stories and the accomplishments of 50 of the most famous, fearless and occasionally feckless entrepreneurs, business titans and innovators – the men and women who made meatpacking and poultry production into the most largest segment in agriculture and the leading food-industry employment sector.
Here’s a sampling:
THE CHAPTERS
Introduction. An overview of the historic sweep of the industry’s emergence as a legitimate, though oft-criticized, component of America’s growing industrial empire.
Chapter 1. The Early Days (1865 to 1880): Before meat production and packing was even considered a full-fledged industry a cadre of ambitious entrepreneurs were building the organizations that would soon become titans of industry.
Chapter 2. The Rise of Empires (1881 to 1900): Many of the household names and companies that made such an impact on 20th century meatpacking originated in these heady years of growth, expansion and innovation.
Chapter 3. The Battles Begin (1901 to 1919): Even as the meat industry emerged as one of the most muscular of its time, monumental changes marked the years prior to World War I – from the emergence of the first organized campaigning against the abuse of meatpacking to the passage of the Pure Food an Drug Act I 1906 – the industry faced unprecedented challenges.
Chapter 4: A Time of Change (1920 to 1939): New technology, new advances in processing and packaging and the dramatic emergence of national brands all fueled the success and growth of producers, meatpackers and processors. Perhaps more than any other era, these decades represented the peak of the industry’s expanse and leverage in American life – although all that was not be long-lived.
Chapter 5: War and Peace (1940 to 1950): Postwar America becomes a fertile landscape nurturing the innovations – and the business and political turmoil – that brought forth the modern meat industry.
Afterword. How the people – and events – profiled in “Larger Than Life” set the stage for the successes and struggles of contemporary meat and poultry producers, packers and processors.