George Washington Carver: A Biography(Greenwood Biographies)

This insightful work chronicles the life of George Washington Carver, the renowned African American scientist and teacher. "George Washington Carver: A Biography" begins with a discussion of the political and social circumstances in Missouri where Carver was born into slavery, circa 1864. Readers will follow Carver through his formal education to his decision to accept Booker T. Washington's offer to teach and do research at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The bulk of the volume focuses on Carver's career at Tuskegee, a career that spanned nearly five decades, from 1896 until Carver's death in January 1943. The book highlights Carver's major achievements, including his championing of crop rotation and the hundreds of products he created from peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other plants native to the South. In addition to Carver the scientist, students will meet Carver the man, who, for example, loved art and painted throughout his life.

Table of Contents:
Series Foreword Acknowledgments Timeline: Events in the Life of George Washington Carver Chapter 1 Early Years Chapter 2 Wandering and Wondering Chapter 3 The Iowa State Years Chapter 4 Trouble at Tuskegee Chapter 5 Carver the Teacher Chapter 6 The Effort to Transform Southern Agriculture Chapter 7 World War I Chapter 8 The Peanut Man Chapter 9 Carver and His Boys Chapter 10 Suffering Humanity Chapter 11 Dealing with the Great Depression Chapter 12 The Final Years Chapter 13 George Washington Carver in American Memory Selected Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Gary R. Kremer, PhD, is the executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri and the Western Historical Manuscript Collection and adjunct professor of history at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. Dr. Kremer received his degree in history from the American University in Washington, DC. His previous books include an edited work, George Washington Carver In His Own Words and James Milton Turner and the Promise of America: The Public Life of a Post-Civil War Black Leader.

Review :
Concise and clearly written. . . . George Washington Carver succeeds in its general purpose of renewing interest in an important and iconic figure of southern agricultural history and of the black experience. . . . [H]e was a rather influential person during his era, and Kremer demonstrates Carver's relevance while introducing him to a new generation of students.