Choice Review

Against the backdrop of (indeed as a symbol of) westward expansion in the 19th century, this book effectively demonstrates that grapes and wine were an attempt to legitimize American civilization to Europe. Hannickel (environmental history, Northland College) takes the reader on an engaging journey across the continent during the heady century of industrialism. Some of the most successful and ambitious tycoons repeatedly fueled the romanticism of wine and grape culture while ignoring the realities of biological science to the point of failure. The author addresses the mythos of wine culture as pretentious and sometimes outright false. Pastoral images of small, family-run vineyards and wineries and the romantic language used to promote these establishments were as exaggerated then as they are today. A small, recurring theme of the book is race and how wine-making is seen as a cultured practice by upper-class whites. Even the hybridization of native species was not immune to criticism of racial mixing. This account will help readers understand the origins of this mythos as well as the corporate consolidation of the industry and its rapid success in the current wine-growing regions of California. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; general readers. M. J. Stone Western Kentucky University