From growing up on a farm, to earning agricultural-related BS, MS, and PhD degrees and teaching at Kansas State University, to joining Excel Corporation (Cargill Meat Solutions) and consulting for organizations like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the U.S. General Accounting Office, and multiple meat companies, Dell M. Allen has spent a lifetime on farms and in meat plants in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Brazil. Drawing on this both deep and broad knowledge, he has written the definitive text on the indispensable role the meat industry played in the westward expansion of the United States. Meat Then and Now: A Historical Overview of the Importance of Meat, Livestock and Railroads in the Westward Expansion of the United States offers a positive counterpoint to attacks and misinformation the meat industry has faced, especially over recent years.