Farm: A Year in the Life of an American Farmer

Richly textured and deeply moving, Farm chronicles a year in the life of Tom and Sally Bauer of Crevecoeur County, Missouri, who cultivate nearly two square miles of the surface of the earth. They struggle to build up their farm, harvesting corn, birthing calves, planting wheat, coping with the vagaries of nature and government regulations. Required of them are ancient skills (an attunement to the weather, animals, crops, and land) as well as a mastery of modern technology, from high-tech machinery to genetics and sophisticated chemicals.

Richard Rhodes spent nearly a year on the Bauers’ farm, observing the duties and drama of the changing seasons. He is the author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, which won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1988 and, most recently, of Deadly Feasts: Tracking the Secrets of a Terrifying New Plague.