Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World

An unexpected, energetic look at world history via the humble cod fish from the bestselling author of Salt and The Basque History of the World

Cod, Mark Kurlansky's third work of nonfiction and winner of the 1999 James Beard Award, is the biography of a single species of fish, but it may as well be a world history with this humble fish as its recurring main character. Cod, it turns out, is the reason Europeans set sail across the Atlantic, and it is the only reason they could. What did the Vikings eat in icy Greenland and on the five expeditions to America recorded in the Icelandic sagas? Cod, frozen and dried in the frosty air, then broken into pieces and eaten like hardtack. What was the staple of the medieval diet? Cod again, sold salted by the Basques, an enigmatic people with a mysterious, unlimited supply of cod. As we make our way through the centuries of cod history, we also find a delicious legacy of recipes, and the tragic story of environmental failure, of depleted fishing stocks where once their numbers were legendary. In this lovely, thoughtful history, Mark Kurlansky ponders the question: Is the fish that changed the world forever changed by the world's folly?

"Every once in a while a writer of particular skill takes a fresh, seemingly improbable idea and turns out a book of pure delight. Such is the case of Mark Kurlansky and the codfish." -David McCullough, author of The Wright Brothers and 1776

Author: Mark Kurlansky
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 07/01/1998
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 7.00h x 5.00w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780140275018
Age Range: 18-UP

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 8.8
Point Value: 10
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 149585 / Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World


Review Citation(s):
New York Times 08/23/1998 pg. 24
Booklist 12/01/2001 pg. 617

About the Author
Mark Kurlansky is the New York Times bestselling author of many books, including 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 lives in New York City.