Mark Kurlansky Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of The Food of a Younger Land Books

Publication Order of Akashic Noir Books

Publication Order of Jewish Lives Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Recommendations

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Mark Kurlansky is an American author of history, science, fiction and nonfiction books. His book, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World was an international hit becoming a bestseller and translated into over 15 languages. Mark Kurlansky book Nonviolence won the 2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
The author was born and raised in Connecticut. He graduated with a BA in 1970 and worked as a playwright in New York. The author worked several other jobs including dock worker, as a commercial fisherman, a pastry chef a cook and a paralegal.

In the 1970s the Mark Kurlansky turned to journalism and became a foreign international correspondent for The Chicago Tribune, The International Herald Tribune, and The Miami Herald. His work has appeared in a variety of magazines and newspapers and has authored over 31 books including nonfiction, fiction, and children’s books.

Salt

Salt: A World History is a fascinating story of a commonly overlooked seasoning. Because of its availability and affordability, it’s obvious that we tend to forget that empires rose and fall, wars were fought and wealth accumulated and lost because of salt.
The author goes ahead to mention that salt was the main ingredient in some major historical such as Gandhi’s in India, the American and the French revolutions.

Some of the oldest methods of salt collection, for example filling a jar with brine and letting the water evaporate until salt is collected have been implemented for thousands of years. On large scale production, brine would be pumped into artificial ponds and left for months to evaporate.

This early form of a salt, despite its shortcomings, was prized and served as a means of trade and was exchanged for other goods. Near Salzburg, a collapse of mountain led to the discovery of three salt miners dating back to 400BC. These were Gauls “Salt people” who traveled out as far as possible in search of Asian mines.

After defeating the Gauls, the Roman Empire declared common salt as a right to all the citizens. Most Italian cities were based along salt works.
Salt played a vital role in Roman culture such that two popular words in English are still used today. For example, salary is a word originating from Romans paying their workers in salt. Additionally, the word salad comes from the habit of Romans salting their bitter green veggies to moderate the taste.
The Venetian city was built on salt. The traders discovered that trading salt was way profitable than harvesting salt, and thus they outsourced salt production to Chinese, Indians and others. All salt supplied had to pass through government regulations, and more money came in the Venetian navy doubled, and their forces would patrol the Mediterranean searching for illegal salt trade.

Salt played an important role in the American Revolution as well. After Liverpool salt supply was cut off, a patent for salt refinement was issued in the United States. George Washington engaged in several battles to secure and hold salt productions locations and supplies.

Salt always has and will always be an important part of human history. Without salt, human health suffers. How much and how bad it is for a person depends on the person’s locale.

COD

In his book Cod, Mark Kurlansky presents to his readers the cod, and it’s crucial to world history in an educative and entertaining manner.

Many of us think of the Cod as nothing but a fish that gets cooked by humans and served with green peas and potatoes, but there’s more to this creature than meets the eye.

Industry and politics play a crucial role in the discovery and the ongoing exploration and exploitation of the fish. The author offers interesting insights that will keep young hooked from the first page to the last.

Codfish have not only been fished for a thousand years, but they’re also one of the most sought after fish for their all-around nature. Well, before people discovered the art of refrigeration, fishers discovered that salting the fish not only added some flavor but also gave the fish a unique ruggedness. This allowed the fish to last longer and hence could be transported and stored for months making it very profitable in the business world.

Throughout his book, the author shows how salted cod came on demand all around the world and not only for its tasty fillets but most each part of the fish. From their heads, livers and even their skin, cod is one of the versatile fish even on today’s market.

Kurlansky at one point discusses why Cod bones are popular amongst the Icelandic population. Cod is not only a form of food, for some folks it’s a way of life. The author explores the fishermen’s lives and showcases how the communities would rely on the big catches that came with the fishermen off the coast.
The author further discusses the importance of the fish to New England, Newfoundland (Canada) and Iceland. Livelihoods heavily relied on the cod sold on the open air markets as there are many parts of the world where the fish is not plentiful, but it’s highly sought after as staple food.

The author further examines how overfishing has led to the depletion of the cods population. For example, this led to multi-generational fishing families to turn for assistance and politics arise when it comes to fishing and those who are lucky to get a bountiful of cod from the waters are most affected.

One would be thoughtless to say that cod are just food because anything that can be sold does have a price tag for profits. The author further explores how years ago explorers would dig deeper into the open water to take advantage of this discovery with the aims of gaining large profit margins.

For example, the Basques capitalized on this for decades thankfully to their strategic position where cod where plentiful. The British Commonwealth built large ships forcing traditional fishermen to send their catches back home to be sold to others without making full profits. But with time other countries managed to build large ships and joined the British in the game. But this only led to a decrease in fish which only led to war between countries.