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Salt: A World History by [Kurlansky, Mark]
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Salt: A World History Kindle Edition

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Mark Kurlansky (Author)
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Mark Kurlansky (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 571 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • File Size: 5824 KB
  • Print Length: 494 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books (January 28, 2003)
  • Publication Date: January 28, 2003
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00BPDN33W
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray:
  • Word Wise: Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,039 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsDefinitely worth his salt . . .
By Stephen A. Haines HALL OF FAME on April 6, 2004
Format: Paperback
It's become a party cliche to comment on our need for the results of combining a poisonous gas [chlorine] and a volatile metal [sodium]. Kurlansky passes quickly over such levity to seriously relate the role of sodium chloride in human society. While at first glance his account may seem overdone, a bit of reflection reveals that something so common in our lives is easily overlooked. Salt is essential to our existence. Our need is so strong and enduring that we tend to take its availability for granted. As a global history, this book is an ambitious attempt to re-introduce us to something we think common and uninteresting. It's immensely successful through Kurlansky's multi-faceted approach. He combines economics, politics, culinary practices, tradition and myth in making his presentation. About the only aspect ignored is the detailed biological one explaining why this compound is so necessary to our existence.
Because our need for salt is so fundamental, its history encompasses that of humanity. Salt was basic to many economies, Kurlansky notes. It's acted as the basis of exchange between traders, was the target of empire builders and even paid out to soldiers as a form of "salary" - hence the term. Venice, a coastal city tucked away from the main tracks of Mediterranean trade, bloomed into prominence when it discovered it could garner more profit by trading in salt than by manufacturing it. The Venetian empire and later renaissance was founded on the salt trade.
Empires may be built on salt, but can be felled by misguided policies on its trade and consumption. One element leading to the downfall of the French monarchy was the hated "gabelle", or salt tax, which imposed a heavier burden on farming peasants than it did on the aristocracy.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsTaking a love of Salt to its logical extreme
By Keith Smith on December 6, 2003
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Salt is one of those things that turned up all over the place in my high school studies. It turned up in chemisty (sodium chloride), in biology (the amount of salt in our bodies and what we do with it), in history and English (check out the root of the word: "salary"). So sure, salt's important. But does it merit its own entire book about its history? Turns out the answer is both yes and no...
I like these small, focused histories (as you've probably guessed if you've read any of the other reviews I've written). I've read many of them, including another one by Mark Kurlansky, Cod (which I rather enjoyed). So when I ran across Salt, I was certain I wanted to read it. I liked Kurlansky's style, and I already knew that the subject matter would be interesting.
And it was. In Salt, Kurlansky walks through both the history of salt and the influence of salt on history, presenting a wide and varied picture of one of the [now] most common elements in our modern world. And he does this in the same engaging fashion that he used in Cod; although, with fewer recipes. So why not give it five stars? Well, it has a couple of noticable flaws that tended to detract a bit from the overall presentation.
The first flaw was in the sheer number of historical snippets that were included. While I'm certain that salt has been important in the broad span of human history, there are a number of these historical anecdotes where he was clearly reaching to demonstrate the influence of salt. Salt may have been involved in these incidents, but it was peripheral at best, and the overall tone sounds too much like cheerleading. Cutting a few of these out would have shortened the book without detracting from the presentation at all.
The second flaw was the meandering path that he takes through the history of salt.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsWorth his Salt
By Amazon Customer on February 1, 2002
Format: Hardcover
Yes, Kurlansky is worth his salt as a writer, researcher and uncoverer of unknown facts about odd subjects. As he did with his previous non fiction books he has woven strands of information into an interesting tapestry, equal parts - enthralling history lesson and cultural voyage. The only problem is - at 450 pages and 26 chapters, with numerous visits to different cultures, countries, eras and rulers in an attempt to cover as many of the 14,000 uses that salt is known for - finishing SALT: A WORLD HISTORY leaves you in a brine of facts, but also very thirsty for a unifying theme or story and a more memorable read.
Certainly my knowledge of historical trivia is now seasoned with tidbits such as: the Anglo-Saxon word for saltworks being 'wich' means that places such as Norwich, Greenwich, etc, in England were once ancient salt mines; Ghandi's independence movement in India began with his defying the British salt laws, and the French levied taxes on salt until as recently as 1946.
A common theme in Kurlansky's books is that food is seen as a topic of historical interest. Here we learn about the role salt played in preserving cod, whale, ham, herring, caviar, pastrami, salami and sausage, and as it was with COD and THE BASQUE HISTORY OF THE WORLD this book is sprinkled throughout with recipes.
Salt is certainly an interesting subject; cultural history buffs will love this book and Kurlansky still has a humorous, easy, and very readable writing style; it's just that he probably could have salted away some of the facts without us missing much and he should have developed a flowing theme rather than one that was so saltatory.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

As advertised

Published 9 days ago by Rockwall
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

Interesting to see how the whole world has revolved around salt. Could it be so?

Published 11 days ago by David Drew Bassuk
4.0 out of 5 starsWho knew that salt was so important in world history?

Very informative, but it sure would be good if Kurlansky believed in footnotes. It's hard to trust his research.

Published 22 days ago by Barbara Ardinger
3.0 out of 5 starsPlenty of interesting tidbits, but halfway through the book ...

Plenty of interesting tidbits, but halfway through the book I was sick of reading ancient recipes for salted fish, salted fish sauce, or ketchup. Read more

Published 25 days ago by kyle karthauser
5.0 out of 5 starsSalt shaped the world as we know it.

This is a great book. Many of us today have no idea of the history of salt. Fascinating and full of interesting stories.

Published 27 days ago by TheWinemaker99336
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

great book delivered by a great company

Published 28 days ago by E.F.
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat historical overview

Very fascinating, fact filled book.

Published 1 month ago by Vin B
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

all good

Published 1 month ago by Khai Chen
5.0 out of 5 starsbrilliant, full of surprises

brilliant, full of surprises. I ended up buying several copies for friends. Sounds like a boring subject but couldn't be further from the truth!

Published 1 month ago by James P Rielly
2.0 out of 5 starsSalt: A World History

Where is David McCullough when you need him?

I respect Kurlansky's research, but this was a VERY dry read. I did not enjoy reading this book. Read more

Published 2 months ago by SMB

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