Promiscuously social and perennially popular, the sunflower has colored the narrative of human history for the past thousand years. Joe Pappalardo's unexpected and highly entertaining social history of this scandalous flower stretches from the Stone Age to the Space Age, from its beatific healing role in Hopi tribal rituals to its covert involvement in the Cold War. In a narrative that spans science and history, Sunflowers details how the plant made its epic journey from the caves of prehistoric tribes to the gardens of kings and presidents. Along the way, the book braves such topics as plagiarism, religious persecution, and flatulence. Pappalardo explains how this deceptively innocent-looking flower was used by NASA to unravel a mystery discovered by Charles Darwin, and how the sunflower nearly prevented the Irish potato famine.--COVER.