Introduction ; Making modern beef ; How beef transformed America ; Beyond the United States ; A steer's eye view of the history of American capitalism ; Book overview
War. The golden age of the plains nomads : buffalo and the spread of horses across the plains ; "A helping hand over this wild and destitute country" : life on the Texas frontier and the Red River War ; Beef handouts and the reservation system ; From war to criminality : retelling the story ; Conclusion
Range. "As large as all Yorkshire" : buying, counting, and managing cattle ; Land : private and public ; "Cowboy-ism" : cattle workers and western mythology ; "Doomed of its own excesses[?]" : hard winters and the collapse of the industry ; Conclusion
Market. The cattle marketing system ; From ranch to slaughter ; Horses, water, and stampedes : the ecology of cattle trailing ; Cattle disease and the regulation of mobility ; Between trail and market ; Making a deal ; Conclusion
Slaughterhouse. Labor ; Refrigerators on wheels ; The decline of wholesale butchering and the rise of dressed beef ; Early regulatory approaches ; Conclusion
Table. Buying beef ; Canned beef and its critics ; Beef and hierarchy ; Concluding with a meat riot ; Conclusion.
