Kline's work is strong in a number of areas... The study is a well written and well researched compilation... and should be standard reading for those interested in the transformation of rural America in the twentieth century. -- Allen Shepherd Nebraska History Kline fills a real gap in our understanding of the ways rural Americans incorporated technology into their daily lives. -- Melissa Walker Journal of American History His social historical-technological approach makes any historical study of technology ultimately much more valuable. -- Tyler O. Walters Journal of Illinois History Kline's work is a welcome addition to this body of scholarship. -- Pamela Riney-Kehrberg Kansas History Consumers in the Country provides an important and very welcome venture into both the history of consumption patterns-an underdeveloped subject in our field-and nonurban people. -- Deborah Fitzgerald Technology and Culture Careful, meticulously researched, and well written. -- David Blanke Annals of Iowa This extremely thorough presentation presents a clear picture of how industries changed, and were changed by, farm families. Choice Consumers in the Country makes important contributions to scholarship in the history and theory of technology and the social history of rural life. -- Mark Finlay History: Reviews of New Books Well-researched, entertaining, and generally convincing. -- Brian Q. Cannon Western Historical Quarterly Kline does a fine job in describing the ways in which rural people made new technologies part of their lives, noting regional, class, and gender implications. His writing is clear, thoughtful, intelligent, and often highly amusing. -- Jeanette Keith Journal of Appalachian Studies Kline's presentation of farmers as historical actors who controlled acceptance of technology on their own terms is valuable and should inform future studies of agricultural communities. -- Barbara Handy-Marchello Great Plains Research 2003 A welcome addition. -- Pamela Riney-Kehrberg Kansas History