Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
A Note on Names
Introduction
Part One
From the Birth of Agriculture to the Birth of Genetics
One. Origins: The Domestication of Plants
Two. Landraces: Bedrock of Traditional Agriculture
Three. “Improvement”: The Agricultural Revolution
Four. Vegetable Mules: The Beginnings of Deliberate Breeding
Five. Empire: Globalization in Earnest
Six. Breakthrough: Gregor Mendel
Seven. Germination: Mendelism and Plant Breeding in the Early Twentieth Century
Eight. Luther Burbank: Miracle Worker or Charlatan?
Nine. “Let History Judge”: Plant Breeding and Politics in the USSR
Part Two
Flowering of a Technology
Ten. Hybrid! Corn and the Brave New World of F1 Hybridization
Eleven. Cornucopia: Genetics Opens up the Horn of Plenty
Twelve. Green Revolution: Can Plant Breeding Feed the World?
Thirteen. Ornament: Furnishing Our Gardens
Fourteen. Ownership and Diversity: Issues of Property Rights over Plant Genetic Resources
Fifteen. Conclusions
Technical Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Works Cited and Consulted
Index