Food historian Cynthia Clampitt pens the epic story of what happened when Mesoamerican farmers bred a nondescript grass into a staff of life so prolific, so protean, that it represents nothing less than one of humankind's greatest achievements. Blending history with expert reportage, she traces the disparate threads that have woven corn into the fabric of our diet, politics, economy, science, and cuisine. At the same time she explores its future as a source of energy and the foundation of seemingly limitless green technologies. The result is a bourbon-to-biofuels portrait of the astonishing plant that sustains the world.| Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. From Oaxaca to the World, or How Maize Became Corn 2. Out of One, Many: The Unity and Diversity of Corn 3. Birth of the Midwest and the Corn Belt 4. Cities, Transportation, and Booming Business 5. Sow, Hoe, and Harvest 6. From Field to Table 7. Hooves, Feathers, and Invisible Corn 8. Popcorn: America's Snack 9. Transformations 10. Embracing Change—and Questioning Change 11. Celebrating Corn 12. Living with Corn: Early 1800s to Early 1900s 13. Living with Corn: Early 1900s to Present 14. Eating Corn: Recipes and Histories 15. Questions, Issues, and Hopes for the Future Buying Cornmeal Notes Sources and Bibliography Index | "[A] charming, engrossing book."—Chicago Sun Times
"Clampitt's research and reportage sustains the book, providing readers with a unique look at an adaptable plant that does so much for so many, providing not only food but myriad other resources that most of us take for granted."—Chicago Book Review

"Clampitt's book is filled with kernels of interest that can stop you in the middle of a cob's row."—Cleveland Plain-Dealer
|Cynthia Clampitt is a food historian and travel writer, and the author of Waltzing Australia.