In 1981, near the end of the second post-World War II energy crisis and at the onset of the nation's most recent farm crisis, American Energy Farming Systems began to sell and distribute what it called a 'providential plant' destined to be a new and saving crop: the Jerusalem artichoke. In this book, the author tells the story of the failed attempt by a less-than-honest businessman to introduce this new crop to a depressed agricultural region of the United States.