Before the invention of the combine, the binder was an essential 
harvesting implement that cut grain and bound the stalks in bundles 
tied with twine that could then be hand-gathered into shocks for 
threshing. Hundreds of thousands of farmers across the United 
States and Canada relied on binders and the twine required for the 
machine's operation. Implement manufacturers discovered that the 
best binder twine was made from henequen and sisal—spiny, fibrous 
plants native to the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.
   
    The double dependency that subsequently developed between 
Mexico and the Great Plains of the United States and Canada 
affected the agriculture, ecology, and economy of all three nations in 
ways that have historically been little understood. These interlocking 
dependencies—identified by author Sterling Evans as the "henequen-
wheat complex"—initiated or furthered major ecological, social, and 
political changes in each of these agricultural regions.

    Drawing on extensive archival work as well as the existing 
secondary literature, Evans has woven an intricate story that will 
change our understanding of the complex, transnational history of 
the North American continent.

_________________________________________________________

STERLING EVANS is an associate professor and Canada Research 
Chair in history at Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba. He is 
the editor of The Borderlands of the American and Canadian Wests. 
Evans holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.


Number Twenty-one: Environmental History Series


What people are saying about this book

Evans . . . 'binds together' what may appear as disparate pieces of an 
historical puzzle and puts each piece in place to create a fascinating 
scenario."—Chronicles of Oklahoma, Spring 2008