Bart Elmore presents COUNTRY CAPITALISM: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet

Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - Signing Line at 5:30 pm, Talk begins at 6:00 pm

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Flyleaf will offer seating for up to 60 in-person guests, with priority access given to folks who purchase the book. Masks recommended.

The rural roads that led to our planet-changing global economy ran through the American South. That region’s impact on the interconnected histories of business and ecological change is narrated here by acclaimed scholar Bart Elmore, who uses the histories of five southern firms—Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Walmart, FedEx, and Bank of America—to investigate the environmental impact of our have-it-now, fly-by-night, buy-on-credit economy.

Drawing on exclusive interviews with company executives, corporate archives, and other records, Elmore explores the historical, economic, and ecological conditions that gave rise to these five trailblazing corporations. He then considers what each has become: an essential presence in the daily workings of the global economy and an unmistakable contributor to the reshaping of the world’s ecosystems.

Bart Elmore is associate professor of environmental history at The Ohio State University and the 2022 recipient of the Dan David Prize. His previous books include Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism and Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future.