Johnny Appleseed and the American Orchard

This coverage provides a satisfying blend of frontier history, agricultural and business insights, and American history and is a powerful pick for a range of holdings, from those strong in agricultural or American history to home and garden collections.

This book takes away the dross of mythology, but replaces it with the realistic humanity of a most fascinating unique American... Highly recommended.

This slim volume does many things well... In just one paragraph, the author spans five centuries of agricultural change from competing 17th century European and Native American conceptions of land ownership to the recent introduction of cleverly marketed boutique apples from South America. This breadth of argument and free interplay between topic and period are a refreshing change from the microscopic studies that have become the bread-and-butter of specialized historical journals.

A succinct, meticulous, and fascinating triple biography of the man, the myth and the American apple—a fine contribution to cultural and horticultural history.

John Chapman’s life, which Kerrigan argues may have been a rejection of the growing materialism of market capitalism, tells us much about the early republic. Kerrigan’s dogged research and clear, lively writing strip away the mythology to reveal an impractical and unusual, though fascinating, individual. Academics and general readers will want to add this title to their bookshelves.