Homer called it a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. As Mark Kurlansky so brilliantly relates here, salt has shaped civilization from the beginning, and its story is a glittering often surprising part of the history of mankind. So valuable that it has often served as currency and still does in places today, salt inspired the earliest trade routes across unknown oceans and the remotest deserts. Wars have been fought over salt, and while salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia, they have also inspired revolution - Gandhi's salt march in 1930 began the overthrow of British rule in India. From the rural Sichuan province where the last home-made soya sauce is made to the Cheshire brine springs that supplied salt around the globe, Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of world history, a multilayered masterpiece that blends political, commercial, scientific, religious and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.

Salt : A World History

Kurlansky, Mark

Reference

Vintage

The Basque History of the World

'They are a mythical people, almost an imagined people, ' writes Mark K urlansky. Settled in seven provinces in a corner of France and Spain i n a land that is marked on no maps except their own, separated by the daunting Pyrenees Mountains, the Basques are a nation without a countr y with an ancient and dramatic story that

The Basque History of The World

History

Europe

RANDOM HOUSE UK

This book" The White Man in the Tree and Other Stories is a collection that contains a novella and eight short stories, all of which are set in the Caribbean and essentially deal with the cultural misunderstanding that are inevitably found in such a melting pot of different races.

The White Man In The Tree: And Other Stories

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

1968: The Year That Rocked the World

It was the year of sex and drugs and rock and roll. It was also the year of the Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assassinations, the Chicago Convention, The Tet Offensive, the French student rebellion, Civil Rights, the generation gap, the birth of the Women's movement and the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union. In 1968, Mark Kurlansky has recorded the cultural and political history of a world changing year in which television's influence on global events first became apparent and spontaneous uprisings occurred simultaneously all around the world. The year 1968 encompasses the diverse realms of youth and music, politics and war, economics and the media. This book shows us how one restless, volatile year has helped shape us into who we are today.

1968: The Year that Rocked the World

From Mark Kurlansky, bestselling and award-winning author of "Cod", comes a lively, insightful anthology of food writing from ancient to contemporary writers. "Choice Cuts" opens with an introduction about the history of food writing by Kurlansky and the book is illustrated throughout with his own pen and ink drawings. The anthology collects work from all over the world, and from all ages. It includes Cato, whose second century BC practical guide to rural life, "De Agricultura", the oldest surviving complete book of Latin prose, is rich in food commentary that illuminates his time. This is also true of Pliny the Elder three centuries later, and Apicius, a chef who was one of the first great food writers. The collection pays tribute to writers for their social commentary, such as Emile Zola's observations about the fat and thin people at Les Halles market in his novel, "The Belly of Paris", and Lu Wenfu's discussion of an appropriate revolutionary restaurant in Maoist China from his novella, "The Gourmet." "Choice Cuts" also includes some of the many writings on food and sex, food and national identity and those food writers who were spectacularly ill-informed. Alexander Dumas, arguably the least accurate food writer in all history, wrote an amazing piece on how crabs are 'eaten by Negroes', and Waverly Root denounced guinea fowl, because they hide when you are ready to kill them.

Choice Cuts

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

When Peter Minuit bought Manhattan for $24 in 1626, he showed his shrewdness by also buying the oyster beds off tiny, nearby Oyster Island, renamed Ellis Island in 1770. From the Minuit purchase until pollution finally destroyed the beds in the 1920s, New York was a city known for its oysters, especially in the late 1800s, when Europe and America enjoyed a decades-long oyster craze. In a dubious endorsement, William Makepeace Thackeray said that eating a New York oyster was like eating a baby. Travellers to New York were also keen to experience the famous New York oyster houses. While some were known for their elegance, due to a longstanding belief in the aphrodisiac quality of oysters, they were often associated with prostitution. In 1842, when the novelist Charles Dickens arrived in New York, he could not conceal his eagerness to find and experience the fabled oyster cellars of New York City's slums. "The Big Oyster" is the story of a city and of an international trade. Filled with cultural, social and culinary insight - as well as recipes, maps, drawings and photographs - this is history at its most engrossing, entertaining and delicious.

Big Oyster: A Molluscular History of New York

From Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Cod, Salt, Birdseye, and Paper—the illuminating story of an ancient and enigmatic people Straddling a small corner of Spain and France in a land that is marked on no maps except their own, the Basques are a puzzling contradiction—they are Europe's oldest nation without ever having been a country. No one has ever been able to determine their origins, and even the Basques' language, Euskera—the most ancient in Europe—is related to none other on earth. For centuries, their influence has been felt in nearly every realm, from religion to sports to commerce. Even today, the Basques are enjoying what may be the most important cultural renaissance in their long existence, as displayed by new cookbooks like chefs Alexandra Raij and Eder Montero's The Basque Book and restaurateur Jose Pizarro’s Basque.Mark Kurlansky's passion for the Basque people and his exuberant eye for detail shine throughout this fascinating book. Like Cod, The Basque History of the World, blends human stories with economic, political, literary, and culinary history into a rich and heroic tale.
Among the Basques' greatest accomplishments: • Exploration—the first man to circumnavigate the globe, Juan Sebastian de Elcano, was a Basque and the Basques were the second Europeans, after the Vikings, in North America • Gastronomy and agriculture—they were the first Europeans to eat corn and chili peppers and cultivate tobacco, and were among the first to use chocolate • Religion—Ignatius Loyola, a Basque, founded the Jesuit religious order • Business and politics—they introduced capitalism and modern commercial banking to southern Europe • Recreation—they invented beach resorts, jai alai, and racing regattas, and were the first Europeans to play sports with balls “A delectable portrait of an uncanny, indomitable nation.” –Newsday
 “Exciting, Illuminating, and thought provoking.” –The Boston Globe
 Entertaining and instructive… [Kurlansky’s] approach is unorthodox, mixing history with anecdotes, poems with recipes.” –The New York Times Book Review

The Basque History of the World: The Story of a Nation

Americas

Penguin??Books

Salt: A World History

An unlikely world history from the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World In his fifth work of nonfiction, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Salt is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.

Cooking Education & Reference

Mark Kurlansky, bestselling author of Salt and Cod, serves up a smorgasbord of food writing through the ages, from Plato to Louis Prima Choice Cuts offers more than two hundred mouth-watering selections, including Brillat-Savarin on chocolate; Waverley Root on truffles; M. F. K. Fish on gingerbread; Pablo Neruda on French fries; Alexandre Dumas on coffee; and a vast variety by Escoffier, Elizabeth David, A. J. Liebling, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Dickens, Balzac, Chekhov, Orwell, and Alice B. Toklas, among others. Filled throughout with recipes, menus, classic photographs, and Kurlansky’s own original drawings, Choice Cuts is a must-have for any serious lover of food.
 “The most outrageously broad, gregarious food writing anthology.” –Saveur
 Mark Kurlansky is the author of many books including Salt, The Basque History of the World, 1968, and The Big Oyster. His newest book is Birdseye.

Choice Cuts: A Savory Selection of Food Writing from Around the World and Throughout History

Penguin Publishing Group

The Story of Salt

"[T]his salutary…micro-history will have young readers lifting their shakers in tribute." —Kirkus Reviews, *starred review*"A lively and well-researched title, with exemplary art." —School Library Journal, *starred review*
From the team that created the ALA Notable Book The Cod's Tale comes the fascinating history of salt, which has been the object of wars and revolutions and is vital for life.
Based on Mark Kurlansky's critically acclaimed bestseller Salt: A World History, this handsome picture book explores every aspect of salt: The many ways it's gathered from the earth and sea; how ancient emperors in China, Egypt, and Rome used it to keep their subjects happy; Why salt was key to the Age of Exploration; what salt meant to the American Revolution; And even how the search for salt eventually led to oil. Along the way, you'll meet a Celtic miner frozen in salt, learn how to make ketchup, and even experience salt's finest hour: Gandhi's famous Salt March.

Children's Books

Puffin Books

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Books by Kurlansky, Mark