The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C. Mann

In an early job as director of the Jones Beach State Bird Sanctuary, Vogt observed disaster unfolding as government efforts to control mosquitoes resulted in rampant draining, cutting up and poisoning of marshland to get at the insect larvae. His circle of friends included rock stars of the natural history world like Aldo Leopold and Roger Tory Peterson. A self-taught ornithologist, Vogt was gifted with charisma and eloquence. Mann asks whether the tree hugger or the techno-fixer provides a better blueprint for the future of life on Earth.Īt the beginning of their careers, neither Vogt nor Borlaug set out to save the world or even make much of a mark, and a big pleasure in Mann’s book is the unfolding of their eventual passions and destinies. Borlaug stands in for the idea that our ingenuity will always allow us to exceed biological limitations. To Mann, Vogt represents the position that humanity needs to restrain its current plunder of natural resources.

Winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, Borlaug was an unassuming plant pathologist who cross-bred a hearty wheat species credited with saving millions from starvation. Norman Borlaug is the corresponding wizard. Vogt’s 1948 book, “The Road to Survival,” prefigured Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” and in Mann’s phrase was “the first modern we’re-all-going-to-hell” book. Mann’s prophet is William Vogt, an avatar of today’s environmental movement and onetime president of Planned Parenthood. In “The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World,” Mann once again produces a highly readable, historical tome.

His best-selling books “1491” and “1493” both rediscover the “discovery” of the Americas and make important contributions to our collective self-knowledge. Mann specializes in deep, comprehensive looks at the past that better elucidate the present.

The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C. Mann