I was born in southern California so it wasnt until I met my wife and moved to MN that i found myself in a rural environment but I grew to appreciate the farms around us. This book highlights the grain mills and provides a history of both their functionality but beauty that I really appreciated.

This book takes you on a journey back in time. The author has done a wonderful job of photographing and describing a disappearing way of life. He really captures the loneliness and haunting aspect of these forgotten towns and feed mills. Along with the photographs the author does provide interesting text on the mills pictured, the operation of mills and suggestions on enjoying mills in your area. Anyone with an interest in local history, agriculture history, photography, and armchair travel will enjoy this book.

More than 240 fascinating photos bring to light the importance of feed mills to American townspeople, economies, and heritage. This wealth of contemporary new photos, together with some vintage images from museum collections, give us a visual record of a changing, and passing, American institution. Covering a time frame of more than 150 years, the book's illuminating text explains what feed mills and grain elevators do, how they work, the role they have played in the American agricultural economy, and the relationship of these businesses to their farmercustomers. By focusing on three mills in depth we learn the changing technological and economicconditions that shaped, and sometimes destroyed, mills. These evocative photos capture mills in the southern half of Michigan's lower peninsula, chosen to be representative of the US mills as a whole in terms of their variety, historic evolution, and characteristics.

For someone that was brought up in the UK. I found this an interesting read, into the history of the feed mills, and the role that they played in the American economy. Accompanied by photographs and illustrations.

I have a thing for old barns and feed mills.. They are just beautiful to me. I love when my husband and I take trips and we see them in passing, I always try to snap pictures of them. This book is just filled with over 240 pictures of feed mills. The pictures are of the outsides and some David Hanks was able to go inside of and take pictures. There are also some historical pictures of some of the feed mills during their early years and a comparison against the pictures he took for the book. I also loved that not only were their pictures but there was also explanations of the feed mill industry and machinery. I also love how most of the pictures are in black and white. It really just adds to the beauty and the historical significance. I was given a e-copy of this book but will be buying the hard copy as well.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

A loving documentation of the once ubiquitous feed mills. Many have been lost to disrepair and demolition, others have been re-purposed, but a few manage to beat on in America's heartland.

Are you looking for a book on old feed and grain mills? Well...this is a book about old feed and grain mills. It's actually pretty neat to see what these abandoned mills look like inside - I've seen plenty out where I live and you don't go inside because a) ghosts, obviously and b) lack of structural integrity. And, to a lesser extent, c) risk of tetanus. A good resource if you or a patron has an interest in mills or old-style American architecture.