Resource person: Audra Bullard - office@clehighlands.com

Description:

Though we often speculate, it is difficult to pinpoint how empires are made and how they fall. But by tracing a single crop — wheat — historian Scott Reynolds Nelson demonstrates its profound impact on the world economic and political stage in his critically acclaimed book: Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World. He will describe how the US, from its founding in 1776, sought to replace Imperial Russia as the breadbasket of Europe and only succeeded when the US Civil War threatened to end the republic. He’ll show how three microscopic organisms that traveled with food - fungi, a potato blight, and the plague - rewrote world history

Scott Reynolds Nelson is the Georgia Athletic Association Professor of History at UGA. His 2006 book Steel Drivin’ Man, about the legend of John Henry won four national awards including the Curti Prize for best book in US history. His latest book, Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World compares the conflicts over western American expansion in the Civil War to conflict over Russian expansion into the Black Sea. It has been featured on BBC, CBC, NPR, and received rave reviews in the Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times.

Notes: Cancellation Policy Please let us know immediately if you are unable to attend a class. There is no refund for cancellations within two (2) weeks prior to a scheduled class. Programs that include food, beverage or art materials must be canceled within three (3) weeks prior to receive a refund. CLE reserves the right to cancel a program if the minimum enrollment has not been met or for circumstances beyond our control, and participants will be notified, a complete refund will be issued. All classes are held in the CLE Lecture Hall at the Peggy Crosby Center unless otherwise noted. In the event information has changed from the published brochure, it will be posted on our website and in our e-blasts. Addresses for “private home” venues will be provided to registrants within 2 days of the program date.

Share this activity: