The Death of Ram¿n Gonz¿z

From reviews of the first edition: "Angus Wright has shown in a brilliant study [how] the imposition of high-yield agriculture helped to break apart the intimate relationship between cultures and ecosystems that had coevolved over long periods of time."--David W. Orr, from Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect"The Death of Ramon Gonzalez is a blockbuster. In a dramatic, readable story, Wright has provided a new way of looking at the tragic human and environmental consequences of chemical-dependent agriculture."--Wes Jackson, The Land Institute

The Death of Ramon Gonzalez has become a benchmark book since its publication in 1990. It has been taught in undergraduate and graduate courses in every social science discipline, sustainable and alternative agriculture, environmental studies, ecology, ethnic studies, public health, and Mexican, Latin American, and environmental history. The book has also been used at the University of California-Santa Cruz as a model of interdisciplinary work and at the University of Iowa as a model of fine journalism, and has inspired numerous other books, theses, films, and investigative journalism pieces.

This revised edition of The Death of Ramon Gonzalez updates the science and politics of pesticides and agricultural development. In a new afterword, Angus Wright reconsiders the book's central ideas within the context of globalization, trade liberalization, and NAFTA, showing that in many ways what he called "the modern agricultural dilemma" should now be thought of as a "twenty-first century dilemma" that involves far more than agriculture.