Presented by Vivier (social and economic history, U. of Maine, France), 14 essays explore the role of the state in promoting change in rural society in Europe between 1750 and 2000. Topics include the collection of agrarian statistics in Ancien Régime France and Germany, financing agrarian reforms in 19th century Germany, collective agricultural practices and the French state, the formation of agricultural public institutions in Spain in 1830-1936, rural unrest and the origins of the Prussian Chambers of Agriculture, farm policy as authoritarian intervention in the Salazar and Franco dictatorships of Portugal and Spain, the first Hungarian College of Farming, the origins of public agricultural education in Italy, and agricultural education and training in the UK from 1850 to 2000. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)