Cod : : a Biography of the Fish That Changed the World

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First published: Walker and Co., c1997.
ch. 1. Race to Codlandia -- ch. 2. With mouth wide open -- ch. 3. Cod rush -- ch. 4. 1620: the rock and the cod -- ch. 5. Certain inalienable rights -- ch. 6. Cod war heard 'round the world -- ch. 7. Few new ideas versus nine million eggs -- ch. 8. Last two ideas -- ch. 9. Iceland discovers the finite universe -- ch. 10. Three wars to close the open sea -- ch. 11. Requiem for the Grand Banks -- ch. 12. Dangerous waters of nature's resilience -- ch. 13. Bracing for the Spanish Armada -- ch. 14. Bracing for the Canadian Armada -- Cook's tale: six centuries of cod recipes.
Cod spans a thousand years and four continents. From the Vikings, who pursued the codfish across the Atlantic, and the enigmatic Basques, who first commercialized it in medieval times, to Bartholomew Gosnold, who named Cape Cod in 1602, and Clarence Birdseye, who founded an industry on frozen cod in the 1930s, Mark Kurlansky introduces the explorers, merchants, writers, chefs, and of course the fishermen, whose lives have interwoven with this prolific fish. He chronicles the fifteenth-century politics of the Hanseatic League and the cod wars of the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. He embellishes his story with gastronomic detail, blending in recipes and lore from the Middle Ages to the present. And he brings to life the cod itself: its personality, habits, extended family, and ultimately the tragedy of how the most profitable fish in history is today faced with extinction. From fishing ports in New England and Newfoundland to coastal skiffs, schooners, and factory ships across the Atlantic; from Iceland and Scandinavia to the coasts of England, Brazil, and West Africa, Mark Kurlansky tells a story that brings world history and human passions into captivating focus. The codfish. Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been spurred by it, national diets have been based on it, economies and livelihoods have depended on it, and the settlement of North America was driven by it. To the millions it has sustained, it has been a treasure more precious than gold. Indeed, the codfish has played a fascinating and crucial role in world history.

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history submitted by unknown on March 24, 2012, 7:13pm should be used in world history classes

A Thousand Years Of A Fish submitted by BookNerd on July 24, 2017, 11:27pm Eloquent, and often lyrical. History, ecology, empires, and climate change.

Kurlansky's book is a wondrous weaving of individual stories of fishermen, global exploration, and the destruction of a species that was thought indestructible. World history writ large by honing in on a single fish species.

Non-fiction that is easier to read than some novels I've faced.

Another recommended book by the APES hive submitted by tbbrown76 on July 15, 2019, 10:58pm Shows the connection between a fish and the spread of humanity. Also, a good lesson on The Tragedy of the Commons. Recommended.
TB