Making Machines of Animals

Making Machines of Animals: The International Livestock Exposition examines how the Chicago International Livestock Exposition altered twentieth-century agriculture in the United States. Author Neal A. Knapp details how the event leveraged the eugenics movement to convert animals into machines and industrialize farming practices.

Beginning with the exposition's emergence as an epicenter of agricultural reform in 1900, the study traces how public displays and industrial propaganda were mobilized to transform the nature of animal life.

Part of the Animals, History, Culture series, the volume outlines the historical dreams and material infrastructures that laid the foundation for modern factory farming.