Government Project
Description
Government Project tells the story of an attempt by theUS government to remake the lives of some of its citizens by establishing a cooperativefarm in Pinal County, Arizona, in 1937. These individuals were among the mostdesperately poor and disadvantaged in the nation.
Casa Grande Valley Farms was an elaborate venture that providedthe Americans who volunteered to settle there with housing, work, and theopportunity to earn income. For five years, the farm succeeded. The revenuesfrom the sale of its crops gave the Casa Grande settlers material comfort andwealth far beyond what they had ever possessed.
But in the farm's seventh year of operation, the inhabitantsshuttered it and walked away with hardly anything, to the shock and dismay ofthe government officials overseeing it.
Government Project explains what went wrong at CasaGrande. In telling this story, it illuminates larger truths about human natureand the limits of governance.
More details
Person
Edward C. Banfield (1916?99) was a professor at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania. He authored more than a dozen books on urban politics, political cooperation, and American governance.
Content
Contents
Foreword to the 2024 Edition
Foreword to the 1951 Edition
Introduction to the 1951 Edition
1. Beginnings
2. Organizing the Cooperative
3. Selecting the Settlers
4. The First Year
5. Progress Report
6. Factionalism
7. Dissatisfaction
8. Women and Children
9. Pinal County Opinion
10. The New Dispensation
11. The Ills of Prosperity?1942
12. The Ills of Prosperity?1943
13. Liquidation
14. Experience Elsewhere
15. Why They Failed
Notes and References to Sources
Some Names Prominent in the Story
About the Author
