Making the Green Revolution

“Lorek’s work fills a notable gap in the history of [international exchanges of agricultural expertise between the USA, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Colombia]. . . . Making the Green Revolution is well written and engaging to read and will be of interest to anyone concerned with the political economy of agricultural science, the history of the Green Revolution, and transnational exchanges of scientific expertise more widely.”—Agriculture and Human Values

“Making the Green Revolution fill[s] a void in the histories of international agricultural science programs. . . . Lorek’s work cohesively binds together the agricultural history of the Cauca Valley, the experiences of the Latin American Cold War with that of the multigeneration Colombia armed conflict. . . . [F]or a historian of science and agriculture of the post–World War II decades, Lorek’s narrative is crucial for gaining an understanding of yet another country’s experience of agricultural transformation amidst violence and social disparity.”—Isis

“Where Making the Green Revolution shines is the rich narrative that connects local and global histories of agricultural modernization and how it ties this story to the social and biological transformation of an agricultural landscape. Scholars interested in agrarian history, state formation, discourses of modernization and the Green Revolution will find it both illuminating and absorbing.”—British Journal for the History of Science

“Masterful. . . . A readable book with a clear organization, Making the Green Revolution is a mandatory stop for anyone interested in Latin America, Colombia, and the Global South’s entangled encounters with empire-making projects and processes.”—H-LatAm

“An innovative study filled with graceful and accessible writing. Timothy Lorek offers new perspectives on the Green Revolution, emphasizing the place of Colombia and CIAT within it. This will be a valuable addition to the literature.”—Stuart McCook, University of Guelph

“This innovative and persuasive book reveals the deep history of Latin American innovation and experimentation in agricultural science that preceded U.S. Cold War interventions by many decades, arguing for the vital importance of Colombia and Colombian actors and institutions to the global campaign of agricultural transformation that later became known as the Green Revolution.”—Tore Olsson, author of Agrarian Crossings: Reformers and the Remaking of the U.S. and Mexican Countryside