In the tradition of Mark Kurlanskyas "Cod" and "Salt," this endlessly revealing book reminds us that the fiber we think of as ordinary is the worldas most powerful cash crop, and that it has shaped the destiny of nations. Ranging from its domestication 5,500 years ago to its influence in creating Calvin Kleinas empire and the Gap, Stephen Yafaas "Cotton" gives us an intimate look at the plant that fooled Columbus into thinking head reached India, that helped start the Industrial Revolution as well as the American Civil War, and that made at least one bugathe boll weevilaworld famous. A sweeping chronicle of ingenuity, greed, conflict, and opportunism, "Cotton" offers aa barrage of fascinating informationa ("Los Angeles Times").