The article below is extremely good and thought-provoking.
 
Cell 
Volume 127, Issue 7 , 29 December 2006, Pages 1309-1321 
doi:10.1016/j.cell.2006.12.006    
     
Review 
The Molecular Genetics of Crop Domestication 
John F. Doebley, Brandon S. Gaut and Bruce D. Smith
   
Abstract
Ten thousand years ago human societies around the globe began to 
transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. By 4000 years ago, 
ancient peoples had completed the domestication of all major crop species 
upon which human survival is dependent, including rice, wheat, and maize. 
Recent research has begun to reveal the genes responsible for this 
agricultural revolution. The list of genes to date tentatively suggests 
that diverse plant developmental pathways were the targets of Neolithic 
'genetic tinkering,' and we are now closer to understanding how plant 
development was redirected to meet the needs of a hungry world. 
   
First paragraph (manually typed in by me -- any  errors below are my fault):
   
Most members of our modern industrial societies have never seen and 
would not recognize the unpromising wild plants that are the progenitors 
of our remarkably productive crops. Very few members of these societies 
would survive if all they had were a field of wild grain and herbs and 
their own wits to sustain them. Yet 10,000 years ago, people who could 
not read, write, or do calculus prospered on diets composed of wild 
plants and animals. Even more remarkably, these ancient peoples began 
a plant-breeding program that transformed hundreds of wild plant species 
into domesticated crops, including all of the most highly productive 
crops - rice, wheat, maize - on which human survival is dependent today.
   
Abstract (and full-text access, for subscribers only) online at the 
ScienceDirect website.
   
Tom Billings