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Excerpts from reviews of The Transformation of Rural Life: Southern Illinois 1890-1990, Jane Adams

This richly textured historical ethnography is based on long-term fieldwork by an experienced anthropologist. It therefore has a sophistication of style, approach, and content that makes for easy yet provocative reading. ... This is an excellent and nuanced ethnography with a fine balance maintained between "the history of farming" and "the histories of the people who farmed"; between data and theory; and between macrolevel political economy and microlevel experiences. ... a finely integrated, insightful, and well-written ethnography, which, importantly, will be excellent for classroom use.

Marilyn Silverman, York University
American Ethnologist 22(4), Nov. 1995

This volume is a major contribution to Illinois history as a definitive work and an example of how agriculture history should be researched and written.

David E. Schob, Texas A&M University
Illinois Historical Journal Winter 1995

Adams translates economic and anthropological theory into jargon-free prose. .. The book contributes a new perspective on our accumulating literature about U.S. family farming. Adams shows breath-taking scholarship and a richness of data that testifies to the worth of participant observation over an extended period in a single place. Adams communicates a love of place and an empathy with people that is captivating.

Sonya Salamon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Anthropological Quarterly vol. 71, no. 1, 1998

Jane Adams has written an interesting, often poignant, book about rural people of southern Illinois and the changes they experienced during the past century. ... It is impressively documented with numerous interviews and a variety of secondary and archival materials. ... [a] strong and important contribution to the history of rural life in the United States.

William L. Bowers, Bradley University
Journal of American History, December 1995

Jane Adams is an anthropologist who brings to this study a fine knowledge of the subtleties of human institutions and interaction, as well as the insights of a native of the region who studied it systematically for over a decade. ... The Transformation of Rural Life is a major contribution to our field.

David B. Danbom, North Dakota State University
Agricultural History 69(4), Fall 1995