The Book

In telling the remarkable life stories of these two vagabonds, Nurture the Heart, Feed the World conveys three positive messages:

First, it poses a challenge to others who may regret that they have not gone to college, by saying in effect:
“If we can do it, you can too!”

Florence and Leon Hesser were tenant farmers in Indiana with two children; they sold the farm business when Leon was 30 so he could go to Purdue. She worked as a secretary until age 35 when she entered Purdue as a freshman. They both obtained doctorates and went on to the world stage to accomplish extraordinary things.

Second, the story portrays America as a charitable country that strives to improve the quality of life of the world’s poorer people.

Besides U.S. government assistance, the Ford and Rockefeller and other foundations, universities and non-government entities help less-developed countries increase food production, improve education and provide health care. Americans can be proud.

Third, the story helps people become more aware of the extraordinary contribution – relieving world hunger – made by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug.

Dr. Borlaug, who wrote the Foreword for this book, is credited with “saving the lives of more people than any person who ever lived.” His interaction with the author of the book in helping avert starvation in South Asia in the 1960s is described in the book.