Connections ...
Remember that old PBS series where connections were made between seemingly unrelated topics? This reminds me of the show ... great read of even better historical research.
Cod - the passenger pigeon of the sea?
More than most people would need or want to know about the fish that launched a thousand ships, Cod is the logical conclusion to Mark Kurlansky's saga of the Basques and Salt. The trilogy should be read in total to appreciate not only the industry and people who fished, but the depth of research and devotion of the author.
A fist full of Cod
Cod was about the first big export of british colonists in America. The first one that made a lot of permanent settlers wealthy. That is one way Cod is the fish that changed the world. Kurlansky even posits some theories that Basque fishermen had been fishing off New England well before Columbus hit the new world: like many great fishermen they kept their stash a secret so no one else could take it. Like many early resources of British Colonial America, cod were eventually tapped out. It helped that... more info
A quirky but tremendously entertaining history
Whenever I need to recommend an offbeat and enjoyable book to someone, this is the one I mention. The history of the New World interpreted thematically by retracing the search for and exploitation of the cod fishing grounds of North America turns out to be surprisingly gripping.
