![]() ![]() To Mann, Vogt represents the position that humanity needs to restrain its current plunder of natural resources. Winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, Borlaug was an unassuming plant pathologist who cross-bred a hearty wheat species credited with saving millions from starvation. ![]() Norman Borlaug is the corresponding wizard. Vogt’s 1948 book, “The Road to Survival,” prefigured Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” and in Mann’s phrase was “the first modern we’re-all-going-to-hell” book. Mann’s prophet is William Vogt, an avatar of today’s environmental movement and onetime president of Planned Parenthood. In “The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World,” Mann once again produces a highly readable, historical tome. His best-selling books “1491” and “1493” both rediscover the “discovery” of the Americas and make important contributions to our collective self-knowledge. Mann specializes in deep, comprehensive looks at the past that better elucidate the present. ![]()
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