SEED MONEY Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future

Narrator Sean Patrick Hopkins shows great talent as he offers a warm, accessible, light, and engaging narration of this audiobook. However, his style may be at odds with the villainous story at hand. Historian Barlowe J. Elmore offers a well-researched examination of the St. Louis-originated chemical firm Monsanto, which grew into a powerful conglomerate that was later purchased by Bayer. The primary thrust is that the profit motive tainted the original Monsanto's values as it became the world's largest manufacturer of genetically engineered seeds--seeds that may have been knowingly toxic. Hats off to Hopkins for accepting the narration challenge and for succeeding in handling the many scientific terms and foreign expressions in this work. This mixed listening experience will inform those who enjoy exposés of "scavenger capitalism." W.A.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2022]