ANDY WARNERS ODDBALL HISTORIES SPICES AND SPUDS

Did you know that a pepper blockade led to the Age of Exploration? How about that huge wheat barges once kept Rome running with free bread? Or that whole wars were fought over tea? Whether or not you notice them, plants are as central to our day-to-day lives as a bowl of rice or a plate of pasta, and they have shaped our history the same way a gardener trims a topiary. Get ready to follow corn's weird journey from the floating fields of the Aztec emperors to the glossy shine on this book's cover.