Book excerpt: This book provides the biographies, and a related summary, of geneticists and breeders of maize who have contributed to the major discoveries in the 20th century. Their relationships to one another, as well as the general developments in maize genetics and breeding growth, are included. Photographs of events and related personnel, all part of the biographic presentation, portray the maize community and its growth. Most of the geneticists and breeders have a common origin in their training, and their sucessors are among the current contributors to maize development.