While I wholeheartedly endorse the labor reforms this book should initiate, it wasn't as interesting to read as I had hoped based on the publicity and it left too many questions hanging. It seems that this book is only about tomatoes from Florida, while California (where I live), Mexico, and Canada (greenhouses and hydroponics) are only briefly mentioned. (It sounds like California mainly provides for the canned tomato market but why no information?) So apparently, he is only talking about tomatoes sold on the East Coast in winter? Perhaps tomatoes sold in other seasons are grown locally, and maybe those taste better? He eventually gets back to discussing tomato genetics and breeding near the end, but it's too disconnected and confusing by that point.
(Now wait a minute! I don't even like tomatoes, so why would I read a book about them? Well, it sounded interesting, and I do like to grow them. I wish I liked them! But Jamie likes them and I guess that's a good enough excuse for me to plant them.)
Better editing might have helped but it reads more like a very lengthy NY Times article. He recounts so many happy stories by the end that it gives the impression that conditions have already changed, or are at least on the right track, thus undermining his call for action. I found one of his stories particularly strange, where he tells how government subsidized housing is being provided at such a low cost to migrant workers that it could be foreclosed any day, and then he mentions all the "rules" the tenants are required to abide and calls them "paternalistic" and "authoritarian," even though he reports that the situation works for everyone!?! Overall, the book was not "great" or even "good," but merely "okay." But it's still an important message, so I'll blog about it.
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