Powering American Farms: The Overlooked Origins of Rural Electrification.

By Richard F. Hirsh (Baltimore, Md.: John Hopkins University Press, 2022. Like the traditional rural electrification story he criticizes - even to the point, somewhat shockingly, of comparing it to the Lost Cause and the Stab in the Back myths - Hirsh's own account often takes interwar utility promoters at their word and conveys the tale they wanted to tell. Across thirteen chapters that primarily span the interwar years, Hirsh's study convincingly shows that, before the New Deal, private utilities did not wholly ignore farms, and in fact forged at least part of the path toward rural electrification. [Extracted from the article]