Mark Kurlansky

Explores the role of salt in shaping history, discussing how one of the world's most sought-after commodities has influenced economics, science, politics, religion, and eating customs.

A World History

Salt

The Cod. Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been triggered by it, national diets have been based on it, economies and livelihoods have depended on it. To the millions it has sustained, it has been a treasure more precious that gold. This book spans 1, 000 years and four continents. From the Vikings to Clarence Birdseye, Mark Kurlansky introduces the explorers, merchants, writers, chefs and fisherman, whose lives habe been interwoven with this prolific fish. He chronicles the cod wars of the 16th and 20th centuries. He blends in recipes and lore from the Middle Ages to the present. In a story that brings world history and human passions into captivating focus, he shows how the most profitable fish in history is today faced with extinction.

A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

Kurlansky offers a definitive history of paper and the astonishing ways it has shaped today's world.

Paging Through History

Paper

A history of the Basque people of Spain speculates on the origins of this enigmatic group of Europeans whose language and culture have long baffled anthropologists. Reprint.

The Basque History of the World

Presents an insightful look at the influence of the oyster on four centuries of New York history, culture, economics, and culinary trends.

History on the Half Shell

The Big Oyster

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “In this highly opinionated and highly readable history, Kurlansky makes a case for why 1968 has lasting relevance in the United States and around the world.”—Dan Rather To some, 1968 was the year of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Yet it was also the year of the Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy assassinations; the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; Prague Spring; the antiwar movement and the Tet Offensive; Black Power; the generation gap; avant-garde theater; the upsurge of the women’s movement; and the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union. In this monumental book, Mark Kurlansky brings to teeming life the cultural and political history of that pivotal year, when television’s influence on global events first became apparent, and spontaneous uprisings occurred simultaneously around the world. Encompassing the diverse realms of youth and music, politics and war, economics and the media, 1968 shows how twelve volatile months transformed who we were as a people—and led us to where we are today.

The Year That Rocked the World

1968

Mark Kurlansky's first global food history since the bestselling Cod and Salt; the fascinating cultural, economic, and culinary story of milk and all things dairy--with recipes throughout. According to the Greek creation myth, we are so much spilt milk; a splatter of the goddess Hera's breast milk became our galaxy, the Milky Way. But while mother's milk may be the essence of nourishment, it is the milk of other mammals that humans have cultivated ever since the domestication of animals more than 10,000 years ago, originally as a source of cheese, yogurt, kefir, and all manner of edible innovations that rendered lactose digestible, and then, when genetic mutation made some of us lactose-tolerant, milk itself. Before the industrial revolution, it was common for families to keep dairy cows and produce their own milk. But during the nineteenth century mass production and urbanization made milk safety a leading issue of the day, with milk-borne illnesses a common cause of death. Pasteurization slowly became a legislative matter. And today milk is a test case in the most pressing issues in food politics, from industrial farming and animal rights to GMOs, the locavore movement, and advocates for raw milk, who controversially reject pasteurization. Profoundly intertwined with human civilization, milk has a compelling and a surprisingly global story to tell, and historian Mark Kurlansky is the perfect person to tell it. Tracing the liquid's diverse history from antiquity to the present, he details its curious and crucial role in cultural evolution, religion, nutrition, politics, and economics.

A 10,000-Year Food Fracas

Milk!

25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea (Modern Library Chronicles)

Nonviolence

A novel composed of linked tales set in Seattle examines the lives of a variety of men and women through the lens of their relationships with food and drink.

A Novel in Sixteen Parts

Edible Stories

Examines the threats to the survival of fish in the world's oceans, discussing the damage caused by various types of fishing equipment, the impact of politics on the regulation of fishing, and the harmful effects of overfishing, pollution, and global warming.

World Without Fish

A city of tropical heat, sweat, ramshackle beauty, and its very own cadence--a city that always surprises--Havana is brought to pulsing life by New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky. Award-winning author Mark Kurlansky presents an insider's view of Havana: the elegant, tattered city he has come to know over more than thirty years. Part cultural history, part travelogue, with recipes, historic engravings, photographs, and Kurlansky's own pen-and-ink drawings throughout, Havana celebrates the city's singular music, literature, baseball, and food; its five centuries of outstanding, neglected architecture; and its extraordinary blend of cultures. Like all great cities, Havana has a rich history that informs the vibrant place it is today--from the native Taino to Columbus's landing, from Cuba's status as a U.S. protectorate to Batista's dictatorship and Castro's revolution, from Soviet presence to the welcoming of capitalist tourism. Havana is a place of extremes: a beautifully restored colonial city whose cobblestone streets pass through areas that have not been painted or repaired since long before the revolution. Kurlansky shows Havana through the eyes of Cuban writers, such as Alejo Carpentier and José Martí, and foreigners, including Graham Greene and Hemingway. He introduces us to Cuban baseball and its highly opinionated fans; the city's music scene, alive with the rhythm of Son; its culinary legacy. Through Mark Kurlansky's multilayered and electrifying portrait, the long-elusive city of Havana comes stirringly to life.

A Subtropical Delirium

Havana

A history of the fish that has led to wars, stirred revolutions, sustained economies and diets, and helped in the settlement of North America features photographs, drawings, and recipes, as well as the natural history of this much sought after fish

The Unreasonable Virtue of Fly Fishing

Break out the TV dinners! From the author who gave us Cod, Salt, and other informative bestsellers, the first biography of Clarence Birdseye, the eccentric genius inventor whose fast-freezing process revolutionized the food industry and American agriculture.

The Adventures of a Curious Man

Birdseye

Joel Bloom chronicles his life experiences during the 1960's which eventually lead him to oppose the war in Vietnam and to flee to Canada rather than be forced to kill Vietnamese.

Battle fatigue

A tribute to a magnificent species whose cycles of life are entwined with every aspect of nature -- freshwater, saltwater, and land -- and whose survival is inextricably tied to the survival of the planet.

A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate

Salmon

Milk! A 10,000-Year Food Fracas

Uses long-forgotten WPA files archived in the Library of Congress to paint a detailed picture of Depression Era Americans through the food that they ate and the local traditions and customs they observed when preparing meals.

A Portrait of American Food : Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, when the Nation's Food was Seasonal, Regional, and Traditional : from the Lost WPA Files

The Food of a Younger Land

Captures the lives of the inhabitants of a tight-knit, ethnically diverse neighborhood on the Lower East Side of New York, including Nathan, a claustrophobic married man falling for Karoline, a German pastry maker.

A Novel of Pastry, Guilt, and Music

Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue

In this timely, highly original, and controversial narrative, "New York Times" bestselling author Kurlansky discusses nonviolence as a distinct entity--a course of action--rather than a mere state of mind, which is why it can and should be a technique for overcoming social injustice.

Mark Kurlansky

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