THE GROUND IS MY TABLE

by Steve Allen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 1966

Steve Allen says he has written this book in anger over the dilemma of the farm worker in the United States, chiefly in the Southwest. ""Hunger defeats what is human in man,"" and the migrant workers, who not had such well known defenders previously, are suffering from exploitation beyond neglect. Mr. Allen reviews the bracero system, whose bulwark of protection crumbled with the lapse of legislation on December 31, 1964. The Armageddon of agribusiness, he terms it, and he lays the plight of the domestic farm worker at the door of the corporate farmer: ""the farm labor problem is almost exclusively theirs."" The cure is simple: and the California Division and such projects as Operation Buenaventura which encourages indigenous leadership have already proved that better treatment has dramatic effects on welfare costs. The Delano vineyard strike indicates that the workers are ready to seek their rights through the AFL-CIO. Mr. Allen lances the myth of non-productivity and sloth on the part of the domestic farm worker and calls for caring on the part of the citizenry. The Southwest is particularly prone to disregard for social welfare and he traces the history that explains this outlook. A well known voice may carry farther than some others previously raised on this problem.

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1966

Categories: NONFICTION