Product Description

Air & Space magazine editor Pappalardo forms a touching relationship with a preternatural plant.

The author's self-confessed obsession with sunflowers, coupled with an inquisitive mind, combine in a book about the plant's history and cultural impact that's full of interesting asides and little-known facts. Pappalardo gives credit to some of the lesser-known names who have championed the colorful flower's many and varied uses. He charts the sunflower's discovery and gradual integration into various industries, outlining some historical instances in which these flowers have reared their pretty heads. One indelible image, from the German invasion of Russia in 1941, shows opposing tanks cutting down great swathes of sunflowers as they lumber into battle in the fields of Kursk. Pappalardo even makes a connection between sunflowers and the activities of Osama bin Laden, who owned a company in the Sudan that controlled most of the country's exports of sunflower-related products. These stories neatly counterbalance chapters on the plant's history, which introduce characters such as Charles Heiser, the "godfather of sunflower research"; Vasilii Stepanovich Pustovoit, whose breeding and manipulation of sunflower seeds helped give them greater oil content, thus laying the foundations for a lucrative industry; and Peter the Great, who may or may not have been responsible for introducing the plant to Russia, thus dramatically influencing its future economy. In fact, Russia is central to all sunflower-related activity, according to the author, who spends a large portion of the book examining the evolution of the country's sunflower-oil industry. Fans of Mark Kurlansky's Salt (2002) should find much to enjoy here; Pappalardo demonstrates a similar dramatic flair as he makes a strong case for the sunflower's grip on humanity.

Enjoyable and eye-opening. Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #624617 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781585679911
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Booklist
What do Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Osama bin Laden have in common? OK, besides the obvious. Would you believe sunflowers? Ironic, isn’t it, that this cheerful symbol of nature’s purity and wholesome goodness has influenced plans for world domination wrought by modern history’s most reviled despots? Few know that Hitler’s invasion of Russia was largely motivated by a desire to deprive Stalin of a crucial source of cooking oil, or that bin Laden calculatedly established his nascent al-Qaeda in the Sudan through the creation of sunflower-oil production facilities. Fascinating as such arcana is, however, it’s secondary to the trove of entertaining lore Pappalardo spins throughout his engaging and expansive look at a flower so ubiquitous that its critical role in cultural development since the dawn of time often goes overlooked. A glib, upbeat writer and fiercely determined researcher, Pappalardo intrepidly investigates everything from the sunflower’s genetic history and recent bioengineering discoveries to its influence on global economies from the U.S. to Uganda. --Carol Haggas

Review
''There is a time in every author's relationship with a topic when he crosses the line into obsession,'' says the affable Joe Pappalardo, who seems to find sunflowers everywhere: He claims Hitler invaded Russia because he wanted the country's sunflower oil and notes that another form of the weed, the Jerusalem artichoke, was rejected as a food source in 17th-century Europe (which is unfortunate, since its use could have averted the Irish potato famine). Though some of Pappalardo's interview subjects in Sunflowers exude a standard scholarly dryness, Pappalardo himself does not in this lively, compulsively readable account. B+ -- Entertainment Weekly, March 21, 2008

Review
"The author's self-confessed obsession with sunflowers, coupled with an inquisitive mind, combine in a book about the plant's history and cultural impact that's full of interesting asides and little-known facts."-Kirkus

"Fascinating... [a] trove of entertaining lore."-Booklist

Customer Reviews

Intriguing and Marvelous!
Well, I had no idea sunflowers had such an impact on history. This book is a great, easy to read narrative that fills in all kinds of knowledge gaps. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Sunflowers, Unauthorized Biography--readable
This was great for a nonfiction book. Great narrative with interesting history of the favored weed.