Ginseng Dreams

The Secret World of America's Most Valuable Plant

Kristin Johannsen (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

224 Seiten

2006
The University Press of Kentucky (Verlag)
978-0-8131-2384-4 (ISBN)

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For thousands of years, cultures around the world have relied on herbal medicine for healing. Only recently have Americans flocked to once-suspect botanical treatments for the promise of good health and longevity. Among the most treasured of these plants is American ginseng, revered by millions of Asians as a virtual panacea that sustains every system of the human body. In Ginseng Dreams, Kristin Johannsen chronicles the remarkable world of the mysterious plant that commands as much as two thousand dollars a pound. She unfolds ginseng's history and its future through the stories of seven people whose lives center on it: a huckster, a field researcher, a farmer, a ginseng "missionary," a criminal investigator, a broker, and a cancer researcher. Each of them brings a different perspective to the elusive root -- and each is consumed by a different dream. Despite its venerable past and medicinal promise, American ginseng faces an uncertain future. Urban sprawl and environmental destruction threaten its fragile forest habitat, and the law provides little recourse against ginseng thieves who roam the backwoods. One step away from endangered species status, this precious plant of so much promise could soon be lost to us forever. Ginseng Dreams tells the extraordinary story of a natural treasure and the spell it casts on those who seek it.

Kristin Johannsen, a travel and environmental writer for nearly twenty years, is the coauthor of Ecotourism in Appalachia: Marketing the Mountains. Her articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and many other publications.

Zusatzinfo	photos
Verlagsort	Lexington
Sprache	englisch
Maße	140 x 216 mm
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Natur / Ökologie
ISBN-10	0-8131-2384-4 / 0813123844
ISBN-13	978-0-8131-2384-4 / 9780813123844
Zustand	Neuware