Harper, D. A. (2001). Changing works: visions of a lost agriculture. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
This book is an in-depth longitudinal qualitative study which traces the impacts of social, economic and cultural changes on agriculture in America, drawing on in-depth interviews with dairy farmers in upstate New York, historical documents, and visual methods (analysis of over 100 photographs from the mid-20th century). The title 'changing works' refers to the common practice within farming communities of exchanging and combining farm labor to do large agricultural jobs like threshing and haying, and it is also suggestive of the changing nature of work in rural communities. The author describes past practices, work and family roles, gendered divisions of labour, and ways of life in agricultural communities, and the changes that have occurred over the past half century. He concludes that while technology has reduced the amount of agricultural labour required to complete farm work, the transition to larger and fewer farms has meant a loss in social solidarities within agricultural communities and negative implications for the environment.