Originally published on February 21, 2022 (Episode 250)
Introduction
Grain traders wandering across the steppe; boulevard barons and wheat futures; railroads; the first fast food breakfast; and war socialism. All of this—and more—comes into focus when we follow the story of wheat and its global consequences. In his sweeping new book Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World (Basic Books, 2022), Scott Reynolds Nelson traces the history of wheat as both a staple and a force that reshaped economies, politics, and empires.
Beginning in the nineteenth century, the steppes that imperial Russia had conquered in the previous fifty years fed much of Europe through the Black Sea boomtown of Odessa. Then following the US Civil War, American wheat began to flood across the Atlantic, driving down food prices, and initiating a great commercial war between Russia and the United States. Cheap foreign grain spurred the rise of Germany and Italy, the decline of the Habsburgs and the Ottomans, and the European scramble for empire. It was a crucial factor in the outbreak of the First World War and the Russian Revolution.
About the Guest
Scott Reynolds Nelson is the Georgia Athletics Association Professor of the Humanities at the University of Georgia. He is the author of numerous books, including Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend (Oxford University Press, 2006), winner of the National Award for Arts Writing, and A Nation of Deadbeats: An Uncommon History of America’s Financial Disasters (Knopf, 2012).
For Further Investigation
Scott Reynolds Nelson, Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World (Basic Books, 2022)
Scott Reynolds Nelson, Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend (Oxford University Press, 2006)
Scott Reynolds Nelson, A Nation of Deadbeats: An Uncommon History of America’s Financial Disasters (Knopf, 2012)
For more on what Eurasia has done for us, listen to The Anvil and Forge That Created the Modern World — Pamela Crossley on nomad empires and Eurasia’s shifting balance of power
💬 Listen & Discuss
Wheat has been a currency, a weapon, and a tool of empire. How do you see agriculture shaping the modern world today? Share your reflections in the comments—and pass this episode along to someone curious about the hidden histories behind what we eat.
