Salt: A World History - Softcover

Kurlansky, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142001619 ISBN 13: 9780142001615

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2003

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.

From the Publisher:

This definitive audiobook about salt will take you through the history and importance of salt as not only our only edible rock, but as a currency, a necessary mineral, a preservative, a curative, and a huge part of our vocabulary. Salt has had an important part in our history and this audiobook is an amusing and informative narrative. Mark Kurlansky traveled the world to study salt and its critical importance to civilization. This fun read is enlightening and thoroughly enjoyable at the same time.

From the Back Cover:

"Kurlansky continues to prove himself remarkably adept at taking a most unlikely candidate and telling its tale with epic grandeur. Salt: A World History reveals all the hidden drama of its seemingly pedestrian subject…. an immensely entertaining read.” -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Stylishly written and wonderfully learned … William Blake famously suggested that the world was to be seen in a grain of sand; Kurlansky has seen it in a grain of salt.” -- The Observer

"Mark Kurlansky’s almost 500-page opus on earth’s only edible rock is the stuff of which epics are born…." -- Zsuzsi Gartner, The Globe and Mail, Saturday, January 26, 2002

"In Salt, Mark Kurlansky, who charmed readers with an entertaining volume on the codfish, turns to a chemical that is essential to human life….darned interesting…. Kurlansky gives us entertainment…. At its best, this is a "wow!" book: roving, startling, engaging." -- Sidney W. Mintz, The Washington Post, Sunday, January 27, 2002

“Only Mark Kurlansky, winner of the James Beard Award for Excellence in Food Writing for Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World , could woo readers toward such an off-beat topic of Salt: A World History...Throughout his engaging, well-researched history, Kurlansky sprinkles witty asides and amusing anecdotes. A piquant blend of the historic, political, commercial, scientific and culinary, the book is sure to entertain as well as educate.” -- PW Daily, Friday, Nov. 16


From the Hardcover edition.

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0142001619
• ISBN 13: 9780142001615
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496