Ariel Ron
@arielronid
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ag, econ & political history @SMU // director, Clements Center for Southwest Studies // book: Grassroots Leviathan (Johns Hopkins UP 2020) https://t.co/NwtUXQvowR
Dallas
Joined February 2011
I've got a new article just out in the AHR: "When Hay Was King: Energy History and Economic Nationalism in the 19c US." The energy people know about this work but I hope it also reaches my Civil War era colleagues. 1/ https://t.co/nU9PUCISf5
academic.oup.com
Abstract. Hay was a linchpin of the early industrial energy regime. It was the primary fodder for working horses, who became more rather than less importan
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Everything you actually need to understand about the Consumer Reports protein powder report (threading a gift link!) -- plant-based protein powders are fine, and do not, ffs, allow them to push you to get whey protein
You may have read that your protein supplements are giving you lead poisoning. That's not the case. If you want to have protein shakes, that's fine. But whether you need to and whether they're safely regulated is a different story. My latest for @vox.com. https://t.co/HLQk9MvSud
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Very curious how this all plays out after the bailout of Milei while Argentina swooped in on the Chinese soybean markets the trade war closed for American farmers. At some point these people are going to say enough is enough?
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The thing about beef, unlike pork and chicken, is that production isn't dominated by a handful of oligopolistic giants. It's a bunch of independents who're very committed to ranching as a whole way of life and they're politically engaged.
Even in the Trump-loyal House: farm district Rs are deeply unsettled about his possible deal to import Argentina beef some House Rs calling Trump officials. one House Republican just raised concerns about it on a private GOP call with Speaker Johnson
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Source in OP is Sherow, “Workings of the Geodialectic” Environmental History Review (1992) https://t.co/g8jzmJQTva
journals.uchicago.edu
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Euro observers would've recognized pollarded & coppiced trees but 19c US settlers might not have known what they were seeing, as suggested by the text in the OP. They viewed trees as things to clear for farm making, not as scarce resources to husband. 3/3
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Van Gogh's "Pollard Birches" shows how trees are cutoff at about head height to encourage fresh shoots too high for deer etc to browse. Plains people might have done similar to prevent buffalo from browsing on shoots they wished to preserve for horses. 2/
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Indigenous nations on the Great Plains prbly practiced active tree management, esp. of cottonwoods, bc these were key to surviving winter by giving fuelwood & bark to feed horses. This suggests they practiced pollarding, a technique for encouraging new growth. 1/
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Had to give a talk about Eli Whitney of all people and anyway now it's an article on Common Place https://t.co/blUJ0nbBVY
commonplace.online
The real Whitney story is less grand than the legend, but more interesting and, ultimately, more edifying.
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Wrote a lot of words on SOYBEANS!🫛 Love this job so much lol America should have greater ambitions for the soybean—seeing it not as slop for the world’s abused livestock, but a miracle technology with the potential to reshape world diets for the better https://t.co/fv2xMTFGrw
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As many as 2 million horses died in the Civil War, yet reports eating horse meat are few. This despite the fact that soldiers were often hungry. There seemed to be few moral qualms about driving horses to death remorselessly. If hippophagy was taboo, why exactly?
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Any 19c historians here know about how letter press books worked? Did you have to write out the letter twice or have the sheet you'd send under the thin letter press paper (does it have a specific name)? for the ink to bleed through?
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currently reading. pretty interesting! however, the escheresque cover image doesn't promise solid realness
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CFP (please circulate): "Lonesome Dove at 40: McMurtry, Mythmaking, and the Reimagining of the American Southwest," co-hosted by the Clements Center for Southwest Studies and SMU's English Department via the "Narrative Now" initiative. DEADLINE: Aug 1.
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CFP (please circulate): "Lonesome Dove at 40: McMurtry, Mythmaking, and the Reimagining of the American Southwest," co-hosted by the Clements Center for Southwest Studies and SMU's English Department via the "Narrative Now" initiative. DEADLINE: Aug 1.
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So. I've been on field manual labor crews where most of my coworkers were convicts. I've also worked with a lot of tech companies on automating farms. And this press conference is incredible. This woman hasn't the foggiest clue what she's on about.
Brooke Rollins on farm laborers: "There will be no amnesty. The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way. And we move the workforce toward automation and 100% American participation, which with 34 million able-bodied on Medicaid we should be able to do fairly quickly."
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"The China challenge isn't what American policymakers think it is. It's not primarily about security threats or unfair trade practices—it's about Chinese companies making better products for less money, and winning hearts and minds in the process." https://t.co/l13oxalLbe
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We have a cover and a release date! Feed the People! will be out February 17, 2026 with Basic Books. Feel free to pre-order a copy at any of the sellers in the below link. https://t.co/ib9sUR0DIp
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Wait until these people learn about North Dakota's state-owned bank and mill.
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