Plants Go to War

Published: Oct. 5, 2020, 6 p.m.

b'Plants Go to War
Guest:\\xa0\\xa0Judith Sumner, author of \\u201cPlants Go to War: A Botanical History of World War II\\u201d
Victory gardens provided 44 percent of produce in 1944, and they could be found from backyards to rooftops to public squares. But plants had even more impact on the outcome of the war, as they were used for good and ill. Take the humble sugar beet: it provided sugar but was also the source of poison gas. Judith Sumner provides a wide-ranging tour of the plants that\\xa0shaped the war\'s outcome.
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Cork Wars
Guest: David Taylor, author of "Cork Wars: Intrigue and Industry in World War II"
Sometimes conflict, strife, family life, and fortune can all revolve around the most innocuous of substances\\u2014during World War II, one of these was cork.\\xa0 This is the story of how cork changed the course of the war.'