Sheeptopia

In the story of ranching in the American West, it seems to be cattle as far as the eye can see. But between 1870 and 1920, a time of great economic and environmental change, western woolgrowers transformed vast public rangelands into one of the country's most important agricultural industries. Sheeptopia brings to light the little-known history of the sheep industry's remarkable rise and rapid decline amid the broader currents of the Second Industrial Revolution and the First Age of Globalization. At the end of the nineteenth century, wool from the Rockies and Great Basin clothed Americans, supplied global markets, and tied remote ranches to railroads, banks, immigrant labor, and international trade. Drawing on economic history, environmental history, and animal studies, Saitua shows how ecological strain, global competition, and regulatory intervention interacted to transform the industry. His account challenges romantic frontier narratives and simplistic explanations of decline, arguing instead that the industry did not simply fail-it was restructured. The same institutions that stabilized production and reduced uncertainty also narrowed opportunities for innovation and upward mobility. In Sheeptopia, sheep ranching can be seen not as a marginal sideshow to cattle but as a central driver of western development. By placing sheep at the center of debates over public lands, immigration, protectionism, and environmental change, the book offers a new perspective on the making of the modern West-and on the broader tensions between opportunity and regulation that continue to shape American agriculture today.