Corn and Capitalism: How a Botanical Bastard Grew to Global Dominance. ARTURO WARMAN: Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.

Abstract

First, ask yourself, how much do I want to know about corn? If the answer is less than a lot, Corn and Capitalism perhaps should not top your reading list. On the other hand, if you are willing to keep an open mind, the book will reward your attention. In it the Mexican anthropologist Arturo Warman examines the history and development of corn, a "bastard" of human creation, including the biology and economy of the plant, its dissemination over space and time, and the human and ecological effects of corn's widespread adoption, from population growth to deficiency diseases.