Ruin Their Crops on the Ground

A James Beard Media Award nominee for Food Issues and Advocacy

“Tour de force … Amasses an enormous weight of evidence … Amounts to a kind of rap sheet documenting the use of food and farmland tenure as cudgels for maintaining white domination … A cogent critique.”–Los Angeles Times

“A sweeping, whistle-stop tour of U.S. history … Ripe with sharp analysis and fresh ideas … Readers will relish this piquant new perspective on America’s political relationship with food.”–Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“An epic account.”–Food With Mark Bittman

“Have you ever wondered how the history of U.S. food law impacted the way Americans eat? Well, with over fifteen years of research, Andrea Freeman argues how the longstanding alliance between the U.S. government and food industries has created health disparities in marginalized communities … Impressive.”–ABC News

“A deeply researched account of the colonial politics of food.”–Quill and Quire

“Freeman offers thorough histories of the privations of Indian boarding schools and commodity diets, plantation feeding methods, and the home economics efforts used to ‘Americanize’ immigrants… . A haunting read.”–Civil Eats

“Freeman takes a hard look at the history of America’s agriculture and food distribution policies and finds them riddled with political corruption, inefficiency, racism, classism, and greed.”–Booklist

“A useful reminder that food can oppress, coerce, and undermine the bodies and aspirations of vulnerable minorities.”–Kirkus

“Ruin Their Crops on the Ground nourishes readers with jaw-dropping stories and revelatory data about the use of food as a tool of oppression. This passionate book enlightens and enrages. A glass of milk will never be the same.”–Paul Butler, author of Chokehold: Policing Black Men

“With superb research and a compelling narrative, Andrea Freeman has pulled back the curtain on this country’s use of food as a tool in fostering racism, discrimination, and inequity.”–Michael Moss, author of Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions

“Ruin Their Crops on the Ground adds a critical yet overlooked dimension to the history of U.S. economic and racial oppression, exposing policies rooted in slavery and colonialism that have long targeted marginalized communities. Today, far from securing the nation’s health, the government enriches corporations by subsidizing unhealthy food production while saddling disenfranchised groups with nutrition-related diseases and blame for their supposedly bad choices. This eye-opening book will change your view of food and its contribution to America’s profound inequalities.”–Dorothy Roberts, author of Killing the Black Body

Andrea Freeman, a pioneer in the field of food politics, is the Second Century Chair professor of law at Southwestern Law School. A Fulbright scholar and author of Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice, Freeman has published and appeared in the Washington Post, Salon, The Takeaway, Here & Now, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Black Agenda Report, and more. She lives in Los Angeles.