Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World

Here is a fascinating and lively account of the crucial role the humble codfish has played in world history. In beautifully written, flowing poetic prose, Mark Kurlansky eloquently tells the thousand year history of the cod. The story begins on the headlands of Newfoundland and travels to four continents. What emerges is an astonishing story of a fish that has prompted revolutions; a fish that the settlement of North America was based on; a fish that has been the basis of national diets and economies; and, a fish that Canada was recently prepared to go to war over. Peppered throughout Kurlansky's entertaining history are recipes and lore from the Middle Ages to the present.