Grass - A Human History

A revelatory dive into the overlooked history of grass and the astonishing ways it has shaped human history Try, if you can, to imagine a world without grass. There would be no lawns or athletic fields, no blooming meadows or rolling wheat fields, no sweeping savannas or steppes. Gone too would be the countless plants and animals that evolved in grassy landscapes: daisies and sunflowers, prairie dogs and bison, zebras, lions, and many more. Oh, and there would be no us—at least not as we exist today. In Grass Roots, award-winning journalist Julia Rosen unfurls the hidden story of humans and grass, illuminating our deep interconnectedness and our complex, ever-changing relationship. Rosen first reveals how the plant exploded from ecological obscurity to cover roughly 40 percent of Earth’s land, creating the world as we know it. She then traces how grass shaped the evolution of our bodies, minds, and cultures, even sowing the seeds of agriculture and complex civilizations.