Includes bibliographical references and index.

The founders of civilization : culture and agriculture in Iowa -- Carnival in the countryside : sideshows and showmen -- A finer rural civilization : the farm family and the "drift to the cities" -- A bumper crop of entertainment : fair men, midways and spectacles -- Agricultural lag : the fair in fiction, in film, and on canvas -- Conclusion: The fair and Iowa's history.

More than a century and a half after its founding, the Iowa State Fair is the state's central institution, event, and symbol. During its annual run each August, this fair attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage to the fairground to see the iconic butter cow, to ride the Old Mill, to walk through the livestock barns, and to people-watch. At the same time that they enjoy fried candy bars and roller coasters, Iowans also compete to raise the best corn and zucchinis, to make the best jams and jellies, to rear the finest sheep and goats, the largest cattle and hogs, and the handsomest horses. This tension between entertainment and agriculture goes back all the way to the fair's founding in the mid-1800s, as historian Chris Rasmussen shows in this thought-provoking history.