The Death of Ramon Gonzalez: The Modern Agricultural Dilemma, Revised Edition

by Angus Lindsay Wright

The Death of Ramon Gonzalez has become a benchmark book since its publication in 1990. It has been taught in undergraduate and graduate courses in every social science discipline, sustainable and alternative agriculture, environmental studies, ecology, ethnic studies, public health, and Mexican, Latin American, and environmental history. The book has also been used at the University of California-Santa Cruz as a model of interdisciplinary work and at the University of Iowa as a model of fine journalism, and has inspired numerous other books, theses, films, and investigative journalism pieces.

This revised edition of The Death of Ramon Gonzalez updates the science and politics of pesticides and agricultural development. In a new afterword, Angus Wright reconsiders the book's central ideas within the context of globalization, trade liberalization, and NAFTA, showing that in many ways what he called "the modern agricultural dilemma" should now be thoughtof as a "twenty-first century dilemma" that involves far more than agriculture.

Genres: History, Food

422 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[MC]

DNF

[Shin Furuya · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve ever read on industrial agriculture as well as food policy. I also liked it since the author was trying to parallel the story of one person, Ramon while also analyzing the food, agricultural and environmental politics at the policy level. By having actual person's story, the author avoided dehumanizing the issue, which often happens to books on these issues.

[Goomba Minchaca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave incredible insight to the horrors of industrial agriculture and the impacts that our transnational agreements have on vulnerable populations of indigenous and impoverished populations of people. The amount of research that went into this subject while at the same time exploring the life and death of Ramón González and fellow field workers was beyond impressive!

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes you think really really hard about what your choices as a food consumer do to the rest of the world...or at least it should.