Bound in Twine: The History and Ecology of the Henequen-Wheat Complex for Mexico and the American and Canadian Plains, 1880–1950

Evans carefully details the highly sophisticated relationships among Canadian and American farmers who required a reliable twine in their mechanical binders to shock their wheat, manufacturers who produced both the binders and the twine, and the Yucatan agricultural community that provided much of the raw material. Through seven chapters, some remarkable images, and a host of maps (a few of which might have benefited from a little more polish), Evans's assertive prose effectively synthesizes an enormous quantity of material from multiple fronts: a history of binding and twine technologies as part of a larger agricultural and industrial complex; the development of henequen/sisal monoculture in the Yucatan and the vicious enslavement and forced transportation of Sonoran aboriginals to make this possible; the monopolistic drive of American industry to corner the binder and twine markets coupled with competing state efforts to reduce the price of the latter through prison manufacturing programs; and the decline and fall of the binder/twine dynamic with the increased adoption of combine harvesters.