Although Sanders's agrarian view of American statism has much merit, and her regional-economic classifications are insightful and potentially useful in a statistical analysis, there is much to decry in her book. First, her agrarian thesis is not new. Economic historians have long recognized that farmer movements were important in shaping the American state, as any economic history textbook indicates. She also misrepresents other economic history studies. In discussing interest rates paid by farmers, she ignores that the studies she cites conclude that higher farm interest rates were most likely owing to the higher risks in farming, not to the monopoly power of lenders.
Sanders likewise appears to accept contemporaneous analyses of farmers at face value.
Much of Sanders's documentation is dated. In many cases, especially those related to contemporaneous economic conditions, Sanders relies on studies that are nearly a century old. Her study also contains errors of economic fact. The problem in Sanders's documentation arises because the sources she cites do not include comparable average tariff rates for the pre-Civil War years or for the 1930s and afterward. Visa, MasterCard, or AMEX accepted.