One of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, Nikolai Vavilov, dreamed of ending world hunger, but in 1943 he himself died of starvation in a Saratov prison. A pioneer of Russian genetics, a tireless and resilient plant hunter, fell victim to the ideologization of Stalinist science. Never shying away from scientific difficulties or the most difficult expeditions to the wildest corners of the Earth, Nikolai Vavilov was unable to oppose the pressure of the cynical opportunistic demagogue Trofim Lysenko. The purge of geneticists threw domestic science back a whole generation and caused great harm to the country. Recreating the story of how the greatest humanitarian mission led Nikolai Vavilov to starvation, Peter Pringle relied on recently discovered archival documents, personal and official correspondence, vivid accounts of expeditions, previously unpublished family letters and diaries, as well as eyewitness accounts. A deeply humane and vivid story draws a very vivid image of a brilliant scientist, a lover of life and an ascetic who, until the very last days, did not part with his great dream.