It's our most important, profitable, and adaptable crop - the true American staple. But where did it come from? Here, in this short-form book by National-Book-Award nominee Joseph Kastner, is the surprising and little-told history of corn.

Though is name is forever linked with the many stately Gothic villas he designed, Alexander Jackson Davis was not content to align himself with just one style of architecture. From classicism to Italianate to what he dubbed the Rustic-Cottage style, Davis's designs were suitable to all Americans, from the working class to the idle rich. Long before the concept would become mainstream, Davis operated as the first mail-order architect. Here, in this short-form book, is his seldom-told story....

In the summer of 1857, when Frederick Law Olmsted was asked if he would be interested in the "superintendency" of Central Park, he was thirty-five and had worked as a surveyor, a bookkeeper, seaman, farmer, publisher, author of travel books, and social commentator. It was the unique combination of these skills that made him the perfect man for the job. Here, in this short-form book by National Book Award nominee Joseph Kastner, is the remarkable story of the father of landscape architectur...