Mark Kurlansky is the New York Times bestselling and James A. Beard Award—winning author of Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, Salt: A World History, 1968: The Year That Rocked the World, and The Basque History of the World, as well as Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue (his debut novel), and several other books. He lives in New York City.
Advance praise for The Big Oyster
“In his portrait of the once-famous oyster beds of New York Harbor,
Kurlansky beautifully illustrates food’s ability to connect us
deeply to our particular place in the world, and shows how our
nourishment is so vitally tied to the health of the natural
world.”
–Alice Waters
“Mark Kurlansky has done it again. The Big Oyster is a zesty love
song to a bivalve and a city–intelligent, informative, and
impossible to put down.”
–Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award—winning author of In the
Heart of the Sea
Praise for Mark Kurlansky
1968: The Year That Rocked the World
“Memorable, essential, and in its own way wondrous.”
–The Boston Globe
Salt: A World History
“Bright writing and, most gratifyingly, an enveloping
narrative.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
“This eminently readable book is a new tool for scanning world
history.”
–The New York Times Book Review
Adult/High School-Once again Kurlansky uses an important natural resource as the focus of an inviting social and economic history. This time the topic is oysters native to the New York Harbor area, where once upon a time a pristine estuary, beautifully evoked by the author, created an ideal habitat. Oysters thrived there for centuries in enormous populations that were easily harvested, literally by the armful. When Western explorers led by Henry Hudson arrived in the early 1600s, gifts offered by initially friendly Native peoples included welcome supplies of the shellfish, a longtime favorite food item in Europe. (One of several dozen recipes in the book is a Middle English description of cooking "Oystres in grave," dating from the 15th century.) The succulent bivalves became internationally famous and were popular with both rich and poor; specialized eateries, the city's famous oyster cellars, were established to meet the demand. The market for oysters boomed and kept booming-until waterfront pollution destroyed the abundant beds. This ecological cautionary tale is enriched by wide-ranging narratives about the customs and politics of earlier times, all cleverly tied to oyster consumption and related in breezy, sparkling prose.-Starr E. Smith, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Who knew that New York City was once the oyster capital of the world, and that at one time it held half of the earth's supply, harvesting 700 million in 1880 alone? Or that oysters were not just a delicacy for aristocrats but also affordable, cheap even, sustenance for working folk. Tom Stechschulte's pairing with Kurlansky's (Salt, Cod) ode to the heyday of the Crassostrea virginicas (the eastern oyster) is a dead-on perfect match. With an authoritative yet amiable tone and sounding very much like Gene Hackman, Stechschulte delivers the information in as calm and instructive, yet wholly engaging way. The Big Oyster is a cautionary tale of man's nature, which lays waste to any exploitable resource, with conservation always a tardy afterthought. Stechschulte's fine reading entertains while educating about how New York City, once known for its oysters and concretely connected to the sea, slowly becomes an island unto itself, losing its connection to its surrounding waterways completely and, along the way, lost some of its unique identity to the name of progress. Simultaneous release with the Ballantine hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 26, 2005). (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Advance praise for The Big Oyster
"In his portrait of the once-famous oyster beds of New York Harbor,
Kurlansky beautifully illustrates food's ability to connect us
deeply to our particular place in the world, and shows how our
nourishment is so vitally tied to the health of the natural
world."
-Alice Waters
"Mark Kurlansky has done it again. The Big Oyster is a zesty love
song to a bivalve and a city-intelligent, informative, and
impossible to put down."
-Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award-winning author of In the
Heart of the Sea
Praise for Mark Kurlansky
1968: The Year That Rocked the World
"Memorable, essential, and in its own way wondrous."
-The Boston Globe
Salt: A World History
"Bright writing and, most gratifyingly, an enveloping
narrative."
-San Francisco Chronicle
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
"This eminently readable book is a new tool for scanning world
history."
-The New York Times Book Review
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