Emily Pawley's The Nature of the Future is a provocative and engaging study of the effects of capitalism on Northern agrarian society, looking specifically at New York State from the 1830s to the 1850s. Pawley persuasively shows that agricultural innovations during this period established “the foundation for the practices that shape the modern landscape,” despite the social discord and economic volatility that these changes engendered (218). This work of agricultural history has remarkable reach, encompassing the historical interplay of agriculture, capitalism, natural science, mechanization, finance, social conflict, identity building, electoral politics, and the commercialization of print and popular culture. In short, Pawley has crafted a vivid and multi-faceted narrative that will be of great interest to students and scholars of the social, cultural, and economic history of rural antebellum America.
The book begins with discussion of the profit-seeking landlord class of the early 1800s who, inspired by British agricultural reformers...