New Dominion Bookshop in Charlottesville will host a book talk and signing with author and University of Virginia alum Bart Elmore on Friday, May 26, at 7 p.m.
Elmore will be speaking about his new book, Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet, which will be released from UNC Press in late May.
This in-person event will be free to attend and open to the public.
The rural roads that led to our planet-changing global economy ran through the American South. That region’s impact on the interconnected histories of business and ecological change is narrated here by the author who uses the histories of five southern firms – Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Walmart, FedEx and Bank of America – to investigate the environmental impact of our have-it-now, fly-by-night, buy-on-credit economy.
Drawing on exclusive interviews with company executives, corporate archives and other records, Elmore explores the historical, economic and ecological conditions that gave rise to these five trailblazing corporations. He then considers what each has become: an essential presence in the daily workings of the global economy and an unmistakable contributor to the reshaping of the world’s ecosystems. Even as businesses invest in sustainability initiatives and respond to new calls for corporate responsibility, Elmore shows the limits of their efforts to “green” their operations and offers insights on how governments and activists can push corporations to do better.
At the root, Elmore reveals a fundamental challenge: Our lives are built around businesses that connect far-flung rural places to urban centers and global destinations. This “country capitalism” that proved successful in the U.S. South has made it possible to satisfy our demands at the click of a button, but each click comes with hidden environmental costs.
Elmore is associate professor of environmental history at The Ohio State University and the 2022 recipient of the Dan David Prize. His previous books include Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism and Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future.
New Dominion Bookshop is located at 404 E Main St. on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville.
For more information, visit ndbookshop.com.
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Crystal Graham
