Can anyone recommend books on the following topics?

Can recommend this book, though it's maybe just proximate to 80's farm crisis. 
 

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Farm/Richard-Rhodes/9781476709598

I believe we've found the only person who cares about J-body cars.

There's a good one from HPbooks (I believe) on this history and development of the P-Body (Fiero) which shared a lot of the parts bin with J-body stuff.

Reading it really makes you root for the poor engineers at Pontiac who were trying to get around the unofficial "no 2-seat sports car except the Corvette" stupidity from the rest of GM.

In reply to prowlerjc :

Have you got this one?

When a Dream Dies: Agriculture, Iowa, and the Farm Crisis of the 1980s

(2-librarian household in the rural Midwest here; this one sprang to mind but I'll see what else I can dredge up)

What sort of Soviet engineering? Any particular period or specific focus?

I can't promise I'll come up with much, but I've read a fair bit of stuff on the Soviets over the years.

There was a song written about the 1980s Farm Crisis that was released in 1985. Not sure if this helps or not. It was part of the Farm Aid Concert.

https://americansongwriter.com/lyric-week-john-mellencamp-rain-scarecrow/

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

There was a song written about the 1980s Farm Crisis that was released in 1985. Not sure if this helps or not. It was part of the Farm Aid Concert.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/joNzRzZhR2Y?rel=0

 

https://americansongwriter.com/lyric-week-john-mellencamp-rain-scarecrow/

One of the funniest moments ever at a live concert was John making his statement about how the government needed to solve the farm crisis by improving farm subsidies.

In Canada.

Where most of the farm financial problems were caused by American farm subsides ruining the price of grain.

He was met with utter silence.

Also in for soviet engineering, pretty much anything transport related.  
 

Glad I'm not the only one with an odd reading list 

As a recovering Pintoholic, this book was gold for me.

prowlerjc said:

RBCA said:

In reply to prowlerjc :

Have you got this one?

When a Dream Dies: Agriculture, Iowa, and the Farm Crisis of the 1980s

(2-librarian household in the rural Midwest here; this one sprang to mind but I'll see what else I can dredge up)

Thanks!  I think you nailed it.

This is another good one:

Broken Heartland: The Rise of America's Rural Ghetto

I'd love to see the correlation of the 80s Farm Crisis and the rise of meth in rural America. 

Also subscribed for reading recommendations. 

DirtyBird222 said:

I'd love to see the correlation of the 80s Farm Crisis and the rise of meth in rural America. 

Also subscribed for reading recommendations. 

Try this one:

Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town

In reply to prowlerjc :

My apologies - I never saw this thread come back up, and I forgot about it.

Here's a few suggestions that vary in focus and levels of detail:

Loren Graham, The Ghost of the Executed Engineer: Technology and the Fall of the Soviet Union

Philipp Meuser, Galina Balashova: Architect of the Soviet Space Program

Soil and Foundation Engineering in the USSR

The Four Phases of Russian Engineering Education

Soviet Civil Defense

There's a lot more to be found in specialist journals, but unless you have access to the necessary databases, I can't tell you how to access them.

In reply to prowlerjc :

I have not. Most of my exposure has come in the context of the defense world, broadly speaking.

Eh, a stretch, but it IS 'transportation' related

STARMAN, about Gagarin and the Soviet space race

my favorite Soviet machine .I think my local library has something about it. I shall find out on my next visit.

In reply to prowlerjc :

Absolutely. I'd love to build a scaled down version using general electric cj-610 turbojets for power