Country Capitalism

Bart Elmore is associate professor of environmental history at The Ohio State University and the 2022 recipient of the Dan David Prize. His previous books include Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism and Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future.

". . . . Even-handed, informative . . . . A compelling argument that companies are willing but not eager to fight climate change."-Kirkus Reviews "An exceptionally readable history centered on the emergence and extraordinary growth of five very large corporations: Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Walmart, FedEx, and Bank of America. . . . [A] fascinating read, one that has the virtue of being very well researched and exceptionally well told."-Journal of Southern History "Elmore argues, in this riveting history of Coca-Cola, Delta, Walmart, FedEx, and Bank of America, that these corporations perfected logistics systems in the American South and then used them to conquer and shape the world economy."-North Carolina Historical Review "Elmore demonstrates how economic growth and inequality, segregation, and ecological disaster could proceed together. For Elmore, the southern economy's distinctive features with explanatory power are its rural markets and the business models developed to tap them."-Reviews in American History "Bart Elmore's Country Capitalism is the first book to try to make sense of how the rural South, mostly neglected places like Monroe, Louisiana, gave rise to some of the most innovative and globe-spanning US corporations. It is a provocative and compelling reinterpretation of southern capitalism."-H-Environment "This engaging and important book reveals how five of today's most influential global corporations developed from common roots in the US South and are implicated in exacerbating ecological change, especially climate warming. For its contributions to the history of American business and environmental history, and for the ways it highlights the ecological impact of economic development in the South and beyond, Elmore's work deserves a broad audience."-Ellen Griffith Spears, author of Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town "Bart Elmore shows us that many of the nation's most innovative corporations sprang from the soil of the rural South to transform global capitalism and the global environment in distinctive and troubling ways. Country Capitalism is a brilliant account of the region's surprisingly expansive-and destructive-reach."-Paul S. Sutter, author of Let Us Now Praise Famous Gullies: Providence Canyon and the Soils of the South