Summary

Lewis moves into the second half of Part Two with a biographical sketch of Cathie Woteki, one of the few women in America to graduate from university, in the 1960’s and 70’s, with a degree in science. Those numbers were so few, the author quotes Wotecki as saying, because women were perceived as being not worth the investment of time or money in education; at some point, the thinking went, they were bound to leave their careers and have babies. Woteki, the author says, carved out a career for herself in food science and nutrition, eventually ending up working as the head of two different divisions within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) at two different times. When she speaks with the author, she reveals her concern that the importance of science will be downplayed in the name of politics and ideology.

The...