# Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World - Hardcover

by **Scott Reynolds Nelson** (Author)

**An "incredibly timely" global history journeys from the Ukrainian steppe to the American prairie to show how grain built and toppled the world's largest empires (_Financial Times_).**

To understand the rise and fall of empires, we must follow the paths traveled by grain--along rivers, between ports, and across seas. In _Oceans of Grain_, historian Scott Reynolds Nelson reveals how the struggle to dominate these routes transformed the balance of world power.

Early in the nineteenth century, imperial Russia fed much of Europe through the booming port of Odessa, on the Black Sea in Ukraine. But following the US Civil War, tons of American wheat began to flood across the Atlantic, and food prices plummeted. This 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.

A powerful new interpretation, _Oceans of Grain_ shows that amid the great powers' rivalries, there was no greater power than control of grain.  

### Author Biography

**Scott Reynolds Nelson** is the UGA Athletics Association professor of the humanities at the University of Georgia. He is a Guggenheim fellow and the author of five books, including _Steel Drivin' Man_, which received the Merle Curti Social History Award and the National Award for Arts Writing. Nelson lives in Athens, Georgia.

**Number of Pages:** 368

**Dimensions:** 1.4 x 9.4 x 6 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** February 22, 2022

## Details

- **Price:** 32.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 32.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World - Hardcover

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