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The History and Social Influence of the Potato
First published in 1949, this remarkable book is the culmination of a life-long study of every aspect of the potato. Dr Salaman is concerned first with the history of the potato as a member of the botanical genus Solanum, its adaptation by man as a cultivated plant, and the record of its spread throughout the world; secondly he considers the influence the potato has exerted upon the social structure and economy of different peoples at different times. The archaeological and anthropological evidence for the early significance of the potato among the peoples of Latin America is discussed in detail with numerous illustrations, but the central portion of the book is concerned with the European, and particularly the Irish evidence. Naturally the Great Hunger is the most dramatic single episode in the entire work, and Dr Salaman does full justice to his tragic theme, concluding with the observation that in Ireland 'the potato ended in wrecking both exploited and exploiter'. Elegantly written, with numerous vivid anecdotes, Salaman's History has long enjoyed the status of a classic. This revised impression, with a new introduction and emendations by Professor J. G. Hawkes, enables another generation of readers to sample what Eric Hobsbawm has referred to as 'that magnificent monument of scholarship and humanity'.
768 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1949
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
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July 24, 2017Today morning as I was pointlessly browsing the Internet, as usual, I came across a peculiar post.
I thought it was some sort of gag, but a quick search proved that it's not one of the Internet's crazy products. The book is as real as you and me and it's a serious scholarly work!
The author Redcliffe N. Salaman spent over half a century on studying about potatoes and took around nine years to write this book. He published this book at the age of 75, in the year of 1949. One of the reviews from 1949 describes this book as "unusual and vastly interesting book which took nine years to write, and a lifetime to prepare" combining genetics, history, and archaeology.
That's right, Kids. Over 750 pages of pure potato-ness!
One of the passages from this book that I found on the Internet actually describes the importance of potatoes in history. Potatoes have saved poor from hunger and have saved monarchs from tumbling down in the early nineteenth century!
At this point, I had to comprehend the fact that Potatoes are way cooler than me.
I would love to read this book if I ever get a chance.
And I would never look at potatoes the same again.
I thought it was some sort of gag, but a quick search proved that it's not one of the Internet's crazy products. The book is as real as you and me and it's a serious scholarly work!
The author Redcliffe N. Salaman spent over half a century on studying about potatoes and took around nine years to write this book. He published this book at the age of 75, in the year of 1949. One of the reviews from 1949 describes this book as "unusual and vastly interesting book which took nine years to write, and a lifetime to prepare" combining genetics, history, and archaeology.
That's right, Kids. Over 750 pages of pure potato-ness!
One of the passages from this book that I found on the Internet actually describes the importance of potatoes in history. Potatoes have saved poor from hunger and have saved monarchs from tumbling down in the early nineteenth century!
At this point, I had to comprehend the fact that Potatoes are way cooler than me.
I would love to read this book if I ever get a chance.
And I would never look at potatoes the same again.
Currently reading
June 28, 2008"That England escaped such a violent unheaval in the early decades of the nineteenth century ... must in large measure be placed to the credit of the potato."
July 17, 2021
An academic treatise to the good old spud. That it is in parts fascinating and in parts fairly turgid reflects this style - every facet of every point is argued in detail and so, for those interested in passing can become dull in places. But in other places this is the book's strength - who'd have thought a chapter on how potatoes came to dominate life on Tristan Da Cunha could be riveting. Above it all though is the breadth and depth devoted to the Irish potato famine which make this book worth a look. The reasons for it were revelatory to me while at the same time harrowing. The text has dated, but that's not surprising given it was written in 1949 and should not be held against it.
March 17, 2014
best book ever! forget Harry Potter and Divergent!
September 7, 2021
The [United Kingdoms] History and Social Influence of the Potato is a (fairly unique) multi-disciplinary exploration of the path of the potato in its journey from initial use by man to its usage in (then) modern-day England just before the onset of WW2. This quite rapidly shifts from archaeological to anthropological to economical to biological in nature, covering a diversity of schools of thought not usually seen in modern works of a similar nature.
The book begins with an explanation that this is not a full history, nor a full coverage of the social or economic impact of the potato. If you want this, there are three additional books to read as well. I also found that this strongly lacks perspectives outside of the UK - as the potato's significant impact on Europe (the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, most of the Balkans) is left largely unmentioned and completely unexplored.
That aside, the research put into this is significant, astounding at times, and all the more impressive based on the fact that it was largely conducted between the 1870s and 1920s. This is clearly the result of a lifelong pursuit and passion and one that is written in an entertaining fashion - complete with trivia and additional facts that don't always contribute to the point but rather serve to be, well, entertaining. The fact that reviews 40 years later found little to update in terms of facts, despite the advent of significant improvements in technology, travel, and information transfer is quite simply, astounding. This is a labor of love and it shows.
The significant portion of this book is dedicated to the potato's history in Ireland. It's primary treatise, the one repeated at the end of the Irish section and in the two final chapters of the book, as well as the one on Scotland, is that the potato is a tool. As a cheap foodstuff, it literally enabled the taking of the commons, the mistreatment of the poor in Ireland and then in England, and likely contributed heavily to enabling industrialism in England through furnishing a foodstuff so cheap that wages could be held at lower than subsistence on any other foodstuff. In Ireland, the loss of the commons and the loss of communal farming resulted in a downward spiral and subsistence living, where the average man would not put in more work than necessary to keep himself alive - and the potato enabled that in ways which wheat, cattle, and oats never could have managed. The potato contributed to the rise of capitalism as surely as did the stripping and enclosing of the commons.
Which is, quite frankly, a highly plausible and fascinating theory. I'm inclined to give it significant merit, considering, for example, that the use of child labor pushed adult men out of work during the rise of industrialism - but due to low earnings, families heavily relied on potatoes simply to survive and still barely managed to do so - without the potato, industrialists would have been forced to pay a higher wage or rely to a significantly higher degree on the poor laws and the Speenhamland system. The number of children a single family could have was already stretched to the maximum by the demand for child labor and feeding a family - so it's unlikely that most families could have simply chosen to increase their brood for the purpose of buying corn rather than potatoes.
- I learned a lot of things in this
- The English really is quite old fashioned and fairly particular in habit. E.g., using neighborhood to refer to a group of small towns in a county
- Many of the chapters go so far off topic that they might as well be labelled for a different topic
- This really is only relevant to the UK. In some cases, you will be expected to know basic facts about the UK, like the start of the Napoleonic wars, which frankly, American education just does not cover
- Whoever bound this book needs to be tarred and feathered
Overall, highly reccomended, will read again, if the binding allows
The book begins with an explanation that this is not a full history, nor a full coverage of the social or economic impact of the potato. If you want this, there are three additional books to read as well. I also found that this strongly lacks perspectives outside of the UK - as the potato's significant impact on Europe (the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, most of the Balkans) is left largely unmentioned and completely unexplored.
That aside, the research put into this is significant, astounding at times, and all the more impressive based on the fact that it was largely conducted between the 1870s and 1920s. This is clearly the result of a lifelong pursuit and passion and one that is written in an entertaining fashion - complete with trivia and additional facts that don't always contribute to the point but rather serve to be, well, entertaining. The fact that reviews 40 years later found little to update in terms of facts, despite the advent of significant improvements in technology, travel, and information transfer is quite simply, astounding. This is a labor of love and it shows.
The significant portion of this book is dedicated to the potato's history in Ireland. It's primary treatise, the one repeated at the end of the Irish section and in the two final chapters of the book, as well as the one on Scotland, is that the potato is a tool. As a cheap foodstuff, it literally enabled the taking of the commons, the mistreatment of the poor in Ireland and then in England, and likely contributed heavily to enabling industrialism in England through furnishing a foodstuff so cheap that wages could be held at lower than subsistence on any other foodstuff. In Ireland, the loss of the commons and the loss of communal farming resulted in a downward spiral and subsistence living, where the average man would not put in more work than necessary to keep himself alive - and the potato enabled that in ways which wheat, cattle, and oats never could have managed. The potato contributed to the rise of capitalism as surely as did the stripping and enclosing of the commons.
Which is, quite frankly, a highly plausible and fascinating theory. I'm inclined to give it significant merit, considering, for example, that the use of child labor pushed adult men out of work during the rise of industrialism - but due to low earnings, families heavily relied on potatoes simply to survive and still barely managed to do so - without the potato, industrialists would have been forced to pay a higher wage or rely to a significantly higher degree on the poor laws and the Speenhamland system. The number of children a single family could have was already stretched to the maximum by the demand for child labor and feeding a family - so it's unlikely that most families could have simply chosen to increase their brood for the purpose of buying corn rather than potatoes.
- I learned a lot of things in this
- The English really is quite old fashioned and fairly particular in habit. E.g., using neighborhood to refer to a group of small towns in a county
- Many of the chapters go so far off topic that they might as well be labelled for a different topic
- This really is only relevant to the UK. In some cases, you will be expected to know basic facts about the UK, like the start of the Napoleonic wars, which frankly, American education just does not cover
- Whoever bound this book needs to be tarred and feathered
Overall, highly reccomended, will read again, if the binding allows
December 3, 2013
Extremely, at times excruciatingly, detailed. This book will teach you everything you wanted to know, and more!, about the historical and social role of the potato.
October 12, 2022
Lots of interesting and fun (and some boring) facts about potatoes.
Loved the stuff about the potato’s South American origins. Only gave 3 stars because the focus of this book is the UK and Ireland and barely touches any other countries. But makes sense given that it was written in England in the 40’s.
If I learned anything it’s that I want a potato-shaped flask.
Loved the stuff about the potato’s South American origins. Only gave 3 stars because the focus of this book is the UK and Ireland and barely touches any other countries. But makes sense given that it was written in England in the 40’s.
If I learned anything it’s that I want a potato-shaped flask.
May 19, 2018
Massive amount of details in this astounding history of the potato. class structure, socio-economics, art, and geopolitics are all apart of its history!
Want to read
April 11, 2017Algún día tendré en mis manos una copia, ya sea física o digital, de este asombroso libro, faro de la Humanidad y ese día, señores, será la persona más feliz del mundo. Como Penélope, esperaré su llegada, aguardaré el día en el que él retorne de tan largo viaje. Como escribió Saramago: «Siempre acabamos llegando adonde nos esperan».
A José me encomiendo.
A José me encomiendo.
July 3, 2019
I got this for my birthday as a gift - I love history and love potatoes, so I thought this would be fun. Perhaps the timing was wrong, but I find the writing style annoying and hard to dig into. If I was going to read this for academic purposes rather than just for fun, perhaps I'd be able to get through it.
June 24, 2022
Didn't get to finish this due to a last-minute trip and the book having 600+ pages and relatively high demand in the SD library system. Redcliffe's eclectic background made him uniquely suited to write about a tuber that has had such an important impact on humanity. Enjoyed what I was able to read about the origins not just of the potato itself, but also the word "potato," which resulted from conflation with "sweet potato," also from the Americas. Read all the chapters through 17th century Ireland up to just before the Potato Famine, unfortunately among the most critical in the entire book. Quickly read interesting chapters on potatoes in Tristan da Cunha, Saint Helena, Jersey and the writings of Shakespeare. I look forward to finishing this book in the future.
"Although for many years it was the genetics, morphology, and pathology of the potato which in the main engaged my attention, it was from an early date borne in on me that the potato - or rather its employment as an article of diet - offered a unique opportunity for the study of the social and economic reactions which might ensue from the adoption by the masses of the people of a new, cheap, efficient and easily produced foodstuff." (xxxi)
"Although for many years it was the genetics, morphology, and pathology of the potato which in the main engaged my attention, it was from an early date borne in on me that the potato - or rather its employment as an article of diet - offered a unique opportunity for the study of the social and economic reactions which might ensue from the adoption by the masses of the people of a new, cheap, efficient and easily produced foodstuff." (xxxi)
January 25, 2024
often the butt of jokes, but i find the Annales school style history of commodities like this fascinating. salt, chocolate, gunpowder, et cetera have all had a profound impact on world culture - and so has the potato.
while i did not finish the book in its entirety, i have intentions to read the remainder in fits when i receive the copy i have ordered, pulling it periodically from my shelves to continue digesting the vast amount of archaeological, historical, and cultural information. technically, more recent research has superseded that within the book but this counts as a seminal volume worthy of time - akin to the works of Darwin or Freud.
maybe i will update this review someday once i read more of the book and can synthesize its dense contents better.
while i did not finish the book in its entirety, i have intentions to read the remainder in fits when i receive the copy i have ordered, pulling it periodically from my shelves to continue digesting the vast amount of archaeological, historical, and cultural information. technically, more recent research has superseded that within the book but this counts as a seminal volume worthy of time - akin to the works of Darwin or Freud.
maybe i will update this review someday once i read more of the book and can synthesize its dense contents better.
October 9, 2018
Packed with as much information and solid economic history as the potato is itself of nutrition. Reading is dry at times but it flows well as is as addictive to read as a box of good hot fresh French fries.
I wish it had gone more into the 20th century and how the potato became a staw side dish in the world of fast food or "chips" in British parlance in the pubs But those events may have occurred more after the writing of this book.
I wish it had gone more into the 20th century and how the potato became a staw side dish in the world of fast food or "chips" in British parlance in the pubs But those events may have occurred more after the writing of this book.
November 18, 2022
Much better than Twilight Saga. Pretty dry reading.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews