He was a Negro born into slavery. He was orphaned before he could walk. He was plagued by prejudice, poverty and ill health. But he became one of the most remarkable human beings who ever lived.

He was George Washington Carver, who triumphed over bitter and frustrating obstacles to become a benefactor of all mankind.

In this passionately-moving biography, Lawrence Elliot has brilliantly re-created the story of a great man who never looked for fame and fortune, yet found the world coming to him for his knowledge and his friendship.

George Washington Carver, after years of struggle to earn his master's degree in agriculture and bacterial botany, felt that it was God's plan that he should turn his knowledge back to his people. So, in 1896 he journeyed from Iowa State to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to join Booker T. Washington. There he stayed until his death, 47 years later.

More than a scientist and a "doctor of plants," Carver was a man of many talents: He toured as a pianist to raise money for the Institute...wheeled a wagon and a mule through impoverished, isolated farm lands to demonstrate the techniques of raising, improving and conserving foods. At the Institute he earned money to enlarge its acreage, designed a new building and landscaped its campus. He won the friendship of three presidents—Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and Franklin D. Roosevelt...spent three weeks teaching the crown prince of Sweden agricultural methods...corresponded with Gandhi, offering him food conservation ideas to help his starving peoples...and exchanged periodic visits with his friend Henry Ford.

Paintings by Carver were praised the world over. His gifts in scientific know-how were sought by businessmen everywhere and for great sums of money, but he returned the money and imparted his knowledge to all who asked for it.

Not least of his virtues was his enduring belief in God. When asked by a congressional committee where he learned about peanuts, for which he had invented hundreds of uses, he told them the inspiration came from the Book of Genesis.

Here, then, is a thrilling story of a man, his courage and his genius—a portrait of an American you'll never forget.

From the dust jacket