Floor, W: Agriculture in Qajar Iran

AGRICULTURE was the mainstay of Iran's economyin the nineteenth century, yet little is known aboutit. Historians have rarely taken that important realityinto account when writing on the economic orsocial history of that period, and until now therehave been no comprehensive studies of Iranianagriculture. Now, in Agriculture in Qajar Iran, renowned scholar Willem Floor has compiled anall-encompassing analysis of nineteenth-centuryIranian agriculture based on extensive researchinto previously untapped Persian and Europeanarchives. Floor presents farming in Iran from theground up and in its every dimension. His investigationcovers farming methods like irrigation andseeding, the raising of livestock, and the range ofcrops cultivated, from wheat, barley, and rice, tothe more notorious cash crops of tobacco andopium. Floor also delves into methods of forestryand fishing, subjects about which very little isknown and even less has been written, until now.Agriculture in Qajar Iran presents fascinatingaccounts of just how the Iranian peasantry lived-vivid stories of what they ate, how they dressed, and whether or not the new agricultural orderenriched or impoverished their lives. The study isrichly illustrated with photographs and drawingsfrom the period which illuminate and enlivenFloor's subjects. Because of the enormousimpact the agricultural sector had on the welfareof the entire nation, rich and poor, and on thesocial and cultural, as well as on the economiclife of the country, Agriculture in Qajar Iran is amust-read for those interested in the history ofIran, and rural sociology, international trade, anddevelopment economics.