or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
More Buying Choices
34 used & new from $13.33

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The War on Bugs
 
See larger image
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

The War on Bugs (Paperback)

~ (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

List Price: $35.00
Price: $21.45 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $13.55 (39%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Thursday, November 12? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
23 new from $14.03 11 used from $13.33

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front by Joel Salatin

The War on Bugs + Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Where Our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine

Where Our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine

by Gary Paul Nabhan
4.8 out of 5 stars (4)  $16.47
Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System

Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System

by Raj Patel
4.3 out of 5 stars (15)  $13.57
The Secret History of the War on Cancer

The Secret History of the War on Cancer

by Devra Davis
4.2 out of 5 stars (38)  $12.89
The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener (A gardener's supply book)

The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener (A gardener's supply book)

by Eliot Coleman
4.8 out of 5 stars (25)  $16.47
Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill

Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill

by Daniel Imhoff
4.7 out of 5 stars (3)  $11.53
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In 1984, when the gas leak from Union Carbide's pesticide plant in Bhopal killed thousands, I asked myself why agriculture had become like war. In the War on Bugs, Will Allen tells us why. Whether you care about the bugs, or the food you grow or eat, this is a book you must read. It will help us all move from violent agriculture to a non-violent agriculture which protects all life and our health."
--Dr. Vandana Shiva, director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy and author of Stolen Harvest

"Will Allen exposes how at every turn the government and the chemical industry steered us toward synthetic and poisonous solutions to the challenges of farming, drawing upon a unique combination of scientific knowledge about their devastating effects on the environment and a rich understanding of the organic approach--from doing it, as a farmer, in the fields."
--Mark Schapiro, editorial director of the Center for Investigative Reporting and author, Exposed

"I have often wondered why independent-minded farmers follow the recommendations of chemical and GMO seed salesmen. Will Allen takes us through the history of chemical agriculture in the US, tracing the collusion among chemical companies, university researchers and the media to convince farmers that chemicals are 'progressive,' and absolutely necessary to the success of their farms."
--Elizabeth Henderson, author, Sharing the Harvest

"Because of Will Allen, and other organic farmers and advocates like him, we now can choose to eat foods without industrial chemicals, wear clothes made from cotton grown without pesticides, and look again at farms-at least the organic ones-as places of natural harmony, not as industrial wastelands. In The War on Bugs, Allen documents how chemical weapons manufacturers, among others, convinced farmers to spray their toxic wastes on our soil, devastating our land and our health. You won't believe what they didn't teach you in school. The produce aisle will never look the same to you again."
--John Passacantando, Executive Director, Greenpeace USA

"In classical Indian music the lineage and intellectual approach of master and disciples is known as a gharana. Rachel Carson's 100th anniversary provoked an enormous attack on her from the pesticide-reactionary complex, shamelessly misrepresenting both her work and its consequences, and quite literally calling her a mass murderer responsible for the resurgence of malaria. Will Allen is a worthy student of Carson's gharana, and in telling the history of earlier such assaults from the pesticide complex, he shows us that her spirit and art are alive, well--and still badly needed."
--Carl Pope, Executive Director, Sierra Club

"The War on Bugs is must reading for organic consumers and every concerned citizen. Will Allen tells us the incredible story, in clear but rousing language, of how corporations, out-of-control scientists, and indentured government have carried out a literal 100 Year War against organic and sustainable agriculture and family farms, and provides inspiration for the organic food and farming revolution which is already underway."
--Ronnie Cummins, National Director, Organic Consumers Association


Product Description

Will Allen is an organic farming visionary. A true activist, entrepreneur, and expert, he understands the complexities of farming first hand and the impact that commercialization has had.
In the early nineteenth century as the American population grew rapidly, demands on crop output increased. Seeing an opportunity to play upon fears from market demand, chemical companies declared war on the vile, profit-sucking, output-wreaking, arch-nemesis of the average American farmer – bugs. With precision, pesticide manufacturers delivered a “shock and awe” media campaign, that can only be paralleled to the current blitzkrieg from today’s pharmaceutical companies. Bugs were the threat to the American dream – and there was a cure available to every farmer available in spray, granule, dust, or systemic form that could be applied to your crops.
Will Allen’s War on Bugs reveals how advertisers, editors, scientists, large scale farmers, government agencies, and even Dr. Seuss, colluded to convince farmers to use deadly chemicals, hormones, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in an effort to pad their wallets and control the American farm enterprise.
Utilizing dozens of original advertisements and promotions to illustrate the story, Allen details how consumers and activists have struggled against toxic food. Echoing the warnings of seminal works on the topic like, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, 100,000 Guinea Pigs by Arthur Kallet and F.J. Schlink, and Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, The War on Bugs shouts that the time to stop poisoning our food, water, air, and ourselves is now!

Product Details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing; illustrated edition edition (February 14, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1933392460
  • ISBN-13: 978-1933392462
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.9 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #575,096 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category: (What's this?)

    #18 in  Books > Science > Agricultural Sciences > Insecticides & Pesticides

More About the Author

Will Allen
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Will Allen Page


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

 

Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Eating Oil: , May 8, 2008
Eating Oil: "The War On Bugs" Sounds A "Pharm Alarm" About the Toxic History of American Agriculture

By Dr. Rob Williams, Vermont Commons editor

Read more about this book at [...]

East Thetford, Vermont's Will Allen of Cedar Circle Farm is no ordinary tiller of the soil. The former marine, jailed for anti-war protests during the Vietnam Era, also possesses a Ph.D. in Anthropology, a long track record as a citizen/activist, and now, a new book brilliantly entitled "The War On Bugs." Allen's story is a remarkable expose, ten years in the making, that highlights the often-sordid relationship among what might be awkwardly termed "corporate agricultural interests," Madison Avenue, and the U.S. Empire's military/industrial complex. Let's collectively call this trio "Big Pharm."

As always, history is a useful starting place. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, author Jared Diamond coined the term "farmer power" to describe the dramatic increase in land productivity (and economic and political might) that emerged with the Neolithic Revolution in agriculture roughly 10,000 years ago, a series of processes that gave us the very best and worst of human civilization. Allen's analysis in "The War on Bugs" charts the arrival of a second agricultural revolution, which began around the time of the so-called American "Civil War" during the 1860s, when U.S.-based chemical companies declared war on two scourges: bugs of every description, and declining soil fertility.

Allen's great strength lies in combining short and pithy analytical vignettes detailing the various tools and tactics used by an evolving "Big Pharm" industry with a cornucopia of visual material. Each chapter features fascinating historical reproductions harvested from a wide range of U.S. media - newspaper articles, old editorials from farm journals, pseudo-scientific testimonials bought and paid for by Big Pharm interests, and, of course, ever-ubiquitous advertisements (including some early head--turning work by Theodore Geisel - a.k.a. Dr. Seuss - who was employed by the chemical industry early in his career to sell Pharm toxins to an unsuspecting U.S. public. Who knew?).

What makes Allen's work so vital is his exploration of the historical and cultural intersections among a variety of forces: Madison Avenue media marketing, science, corporate power and, most importantly, the process of "farming" itself, a complex and rigorous activity so full of mistaken mythological holes within the fabric of U.S. history that you can drive a John Deere combine harvester through it. Simply stated, farming is incredibly hard work, made more so by forces way beyond the control of individual farmers -weather, crop prices, and the price of fuel - to name but three. The great genius of Big Pharm interests, and "The War On Bugs" highlights it, comes with their use of what Allen calls a "four part sales model" to get farmers "hooked" on their products. To whit: beginning in the mid-19th century, Big Pharm editorials in various farm journals planted the seeds of interest in new chemical-intensive products and processes; scientific testimonials by so-called "experts" (often citing studies paid for by Big Pharm interests) watered the seeds; saturation advertising by well-funded marketers nurtured interest even further; and finally, farmer testimonials about "Big Pharm" success helped seal the deal.

And, let's be honest about the results. In one sense, oil/chemical based fertilizers and pesticides ushered in a remarkable era in food productivity during these past 150 years. The only reason why today's 21st century planet can afford to carry close to 7 billion human inhabitants is because of the so-called "Green Revolution" in agriculture. Literally, as Dale Allen Pfeiffer states, we in the West "eat oil," as consumers eating in the midst of the most fossil-fuel-intensive agricultural system the world has ever seen. Allen's book makes it clear that we've been "eating oil" for longer than most of us realize, and that the high costs of doing so - from rampant toxin-related illnesses and death; to the chemical poisoning of our air, water, and landscapes; to the centralizing of corporate commercial political and economic power - are worth considering.

It would be a mistake to romanticize small-scale subsistence farming. Perhaps more of a mistake, however, is to ignore the history and the trade-offs of Big Pharm's "war on bugs." If ever there was a historical argument for cultivating thoughtful localvore living, food sovereignty, and homestead security moving into the 21st century, this book is it.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Chemical companies' marketing campaigns that have pushed toxic pesticides and fertilizers on farmers , June 9, 2008
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
THE WAR ON BUGS reveals the chemical companies' marketing campaigns that have pushed toxic pesticides and fertilizers on farmers for over 150 years. From the packaging and promoting of toxic wastes as 'miracle' answers to insect infestations to how chemical weapons manufacturers sought to expand their products into the world market by billing them as pesticide answers, THE WAR ON BUGS juxtaposes two centuries' worth of ads with documentation of chemical company actions and farmer reactions alike. Both general-interest lending libraries and those specializing in conservation issues will find this intriguing.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5.0 out of 5 stars Handsome Book, June 8, 2009
You wouldn't necessarily think it from the title, but this is a really well designed book. Invites the reader right in.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   




Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

The War on Bugs

Will Allen is an organic farming visionary. A true activist, entrepreneur, and expert, he understands the complexities of farming first hand and the impact that commercialization has had. In the early nineteenth century as the American population ...

Author: Will Allen;  Number Of Pages: 336;  Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing; ...

(Report this)
Created on Sep 17, 2007, last edited on Sep 17, 2007.

 Read More and Edit at Amapedia.com opens new browser window



Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.