The Story of CornIn an authoritative, wise and wholly original blend of social history, art, science and anthropology, Betty Fussell tells the story of corn in a narrative that is as uniquely hybrid as her subject. It is a story that can be told in the language of myth or industry, of sacred ritual or secular farming, but in any language it makes clear that all the civilizations of the Western Hemisphere have been built on corn. The great epic of this amazing grain and of the people who for seven centuries have planted, eaten, worshipped, processed and profited from it reaches into every corner of American life--not just its food but also its poetry, its commerce, its religion and, of course, its booze. In her beautifully balanced text as well as in hundreds of extraordinary illustrations, Fussell juxtaposes the many facets of corn's history and influence to surprising, dramatic effect. The Story of Corn changes completely one's sense of the shape and nature of the American experience. You will never again munch on a hush puppy, admire a Maya temple, read Hiawatha or simply pass a cornfield in the same way. |
Contents
Two Seeds of Life | 27 |
THREE The Daily Round | 97 |
The Language of the Machine | 133 |
Copyright | |
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acres agriculture American ancient Aztec baked boiled boys bread Buffalo Bird Woman bushels butter cakes called century ceremony chicha color cooking Copán Corn Belt Corn Palace corn plant cornfield cornmeal Courtesy crop Cuzco dance dough dried ear of corn earth farm farmers father field fire flavor flour four girls grain green corn grind ground grow hand harvest Hidatsa hominy Hoopeston Hopi husks hybrid Inca Indian corn Iowa Kansas kernels land language maize Mangelsdorf Maya meal Mexico milk milling mixed Mother Museum mush native Nebraska North palace percent Peru Photo piki polenta pollen popcorn Popul Vuh pounds prairie production pudding Pueblo Quetzalcoatl recipe roasted rows sacred says seed South sprouts stalks starch stick stone sugar sweet corn tamales tassels teosinte thousand tortillas tribes turned Wallace wheat whiskey women wrote yellow Zuni