Corn: Its Origin, Evolution, and Improvement [Book Review]

Twelve of the twenty chapters of this eloquently written and attractively illustrated volume are autobiographically oriented, appropriately so, for Paul Mangelsdorf has had nearly half a century of personal and highly influential association with his subject. This book contributes significantly in many ways to our knowledge of the origin and evolution of maize (Zea mays L.), its races, distribution, genetics, cytology, archeology, uses, and improvement. As just one example, without Mangelsdorf's interest, influence, and participation in maize research, it is doubtful if more than a small part of the remarkable 7,000-year archeological record of maize evolution would by now have been discovered, or be so well documented and interpreted.