Includes bibliographical references (p. 288-390) and index.

Early human societies and their plants -- Plant management and agriculture -- How some people became farmers -- Plant genomes -- Fluid genomes, uncertain species, and the genetics of crop domestication -- The domestication of cereal crops -- The domestication of non-cereal crops -- People and the emergence of crops -- Agriculture : a mixed blessing -- Evolution of agrourban cultures : I The Near East -- Evolution of agrourban cultures : II south and east Asia -- Evolution of agrourban cultures : III Africa, Europe, and the Americas -- Crop management in the classical and medieval periods -- Agricultural improvement and the rise of crop breeding -- Imperial botany and the early scientific breeders -- Agricultural improvement in modern times -- The future of agriculture and humanity.