Pure Adulteration

A richly detailed, intellectually sophisticated account of the conflicts at the core of our personal and social identities. Cohen wears his learning lightly and knows how to tell a good story, so the book is a pleasure to read as well as a fresh and illuminating perspective on a central theme in American cultural history. --Jackson Lears, author of Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America, 1877-1920 Cohen has assembled a compelling set of stories, recounting the deeds of food charlatans and chemists of various stripes, and uses these stories to open up his serious exploration of the place of food in modernity's radical reorientation of relations with nature. It's a work of revelation, uncovering the many hidden ingredients that have gone into the foods we consume. --Douglas C. Sackman, author of Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden Engaging and accessible . . . this work will likely find an audience among general readers as well as those studying American history or food science. . . . Recommended. All readers. -- CHOICE Cohen explains how the ideal of purity and the sin of adulteration came to shape which foods Americans viewed as acceptable and which as unacceptable at a time when they had decreasing control over how food was produced. . . . Cohen's thoughtful argument is made stronger by his cogent writing as well as numerous illustrations. His writing is clear and precise, striking an enjoyable balance between the formal and the informal. It has become common for historians to make more use of the first person to give readers entree into a complex narrative, but not everyone weaves together the different tones with the skill that Cohen does. -- H-Soz-Kult Cohen is a historian and engineer, and his book is erudite and whimsical, richly documented with vintage advertisements and production statistics. . . . [He] walks us through a formative moment. -- Literary Review of Canada As Benjamin R. Cohen notes in his thoughtful book Pure Adulteration, it is difficult to find a time or a place in history that lacks purveyors of food and drink attempting to cheat their unsuspecting customers. [Cohen] brings up the age-old problem of adulteration as essential context for his more recent case study of the underlying issues. . . . [He asks] a range of provocative and intriguing questions about U.S. food systems. What, for example, does this fight for food purity tell us about the changing nature of the country; its shifting culture, commerce, and politics; and its emerging scientific power? -- Science Pure Adulteration does a great job of explaining the complicated interrelationships of various industries (like cottonseed with wheat and pork) and the ways that new food products affected international trade. . . . The work is perhaps at its most intriguing when it reveals the many ways foods and racial prejudice have been interconnected. . . . Made enjoyable by Cohen's gentle, witty voice and crystal-clear writing style. Illuminating and enjoyable. -- Culinary Historians of Canada 'Trusting food meant trusting people.' This truth, as well as many of the anxieties of America's Gilded Age chronicled by Benjamin R. Cohen in Pure Adulteration, resonates strongly in the twenty-first century. Indeed, it is remarkable how little ideological, and psychological, distance has been covered. . . . Cohen depicts a cat-and-mouse game between ever-adapting adulterers and 'pure food' crusaders, which set the tone for our current labyrinth of regulation. . . . The products have changed, but the moral handwringing and naturalistic nostalgia continue. -- Times Literary Supplement What makes some foods pure and real and others not? Cohen traces the colorful history--and geography--of this question. Timely and engaging, Pure Adulteration shows that industrialization changed not just where food comes from but also where and to whom we look for reasons to trust it. --Susanne Freidberg, author of Fresh: A Perishable History Cohen's important book corrects standard narratives of adulteration and regulation, which tend to give outsized credit to Harvey Wiley and The Jungle. He demonstrates persuasively that American ideas about 'purity' changed enormously over the time period he considers, moving from an experiential and primarily agricultural concept to a consumer-oriented standard whose ultimate arbiter was laboratory analysis. --Helen Zoe Veit, Michigan State University Cohen offers a fresh take on familiar tales of food fraud and its detection. . . . Pure Adulteration is a breezy read. Cohen draws upon colorful anecdotes and characters to make the story of food adulteration entertaining and compelling. He also makes excellent use of visual evidence to reinforce his vivid storytelling, including maps of commodity flows and political cartoons. . . . Pure Adulteration analyzes the pure food crusades on food fraud but lets the reader decide if they leave a bitter taste in the mouth. -- Environmental History