Salt: A World History

“Kurlansky finds the world in a grain of salt.” - New York Times Book Review An unlikely world history from the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World Best-selling author 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.

Table of Contents:
Salt: A World HistoryIntroduction: The Rock Part One A Discourse on Salt, Cadavers, and Pungent Sauces Chapter One: A Mandate of Salt Chapter Two: Fish, Fowl, and Pharoahs Chapter Three: Saltmen Hard as Codfish Chapter Four: Salt's Salad Days Chapter Five: Salting It Away in the Adriatic Chapter Six: Two Ports and the Prosciutto in Between Part Two The Glow of Herring and the Scent of Conquest Chapter Seven: Friday's Salt Chapter Eight: A Nordic Dream Chapter Nine: A Well-Salted Hexagon Chapter Ten: The Hapsburg Pickle Chapter Eleven: The Leaving of Liverpool Chapter Twelve: American Salt Wars Chapter Thirteen: Salt and Independence Chapter Fourteen: Liberté, Egalité, Tax Breaks Chapter Fifteen: Preserving Independence Chapter Sixteen: The War Between the Salts Chapter Seventeen: Red Salt Part Three Sodium's Perfect Marriage Chapter Eighteen: The Odium of Sodium Chapter Nineteen: The Mythology of Geology Chapter Twenty: The Soil Never Sets On . . . Chapter Twenty-One: Salt and the Great Soul Chapter Twenty-Two: Not Looking Back Chapter Twenty-Three: The Last Salt Days of Zigong Chapter Twenty-Four: Ma, La, and Mao Chapter Twenty-Five: More Salt than Fish Chapter Twenty-Six: Big Salt, Little Salt Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Mark Kurlansky is the New York Times bestselling author of many books, including Cheesecake, The Food of a Younger Land, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World; Salt: A World History; 1968: The Year That Rocked the World; and The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell. He has received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Bon Appetit’s Food Writer of the Year Award, the James Beard Award, and the Glenfiddich Award. He lives in New York City.

Review :
"Kurlansky finds the world in a grain of salt...fascination and surprise regularly erupt from the detail." —The New York Times Book Review This is terrific food writing; like fleur de sel, something scarce and to be savored." —San Francisco Chronicle "Kurlansky continues to prove himself remarkably adept at taking a most unlikely candidate and telling its tale with epic grandeur. " —Los Angeles Times Book Review "If you are drawn to history and curious about the origins of foods, allow Mark Kurlansky to take you on an incredible journey through the centuries by way of salt." —The Baltimore Sun "Kurlansky does a masterful job of expanding the reader's horizons....This book of minutely researched data and history can literally make the mouth water." —The Boston Globe