The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell
by Kurlansky, Mark
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0345476387
- ISBN 13
- 9780345476388
- Seller
-
Ventura, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants--the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled.For centuries New York was famous for its oysters, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city's economy, gastronomy, and ecology that the abundant bivalves were Gotham's most celebrated export, a staple food for the wealthy, the poor, and tourists alike, and the primary natural defense against pollution for the city's congested waterways.Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight--along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos--this dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the island hunting ground of the Lenape Indians to the death of the oyster beds and the rise of America's environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan's Gilded Age dining chambers. Kurlansky brings characters vividly to life while recounting dramatic incidents that changed the course of New York history. Here are the stories behind Peter Stuyvesant's peg leg and Robert Fulton's "Folly"; the oyster merchant and pioneering African American leader Thomas Downing; the birth of the business lunch at Delmonico's; early feminist Fanny Fern, one of the highest-paid newspaper writers in the city; even "Diamond" Jim Brady, who we discover was not the gourmand of popular legend. With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.From the Hardcover edition.
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Details
- Bookseller
- The Calico Cat Bookshop (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 037625
- Title
- The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell
- Author
- Kurlansky, Mark
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- ISBN 10
- 0345476387
- ISBN 13
- 9780345476388
- Publisher
- Ballantine Books
- Place of Publication
- USA
- Date Published
- 2006
- Pages
- 320
- Size
- Octavo
Terms of Sale
The Calico Cat Bookshop
About the Seller
The Calico Cat Bookshop
About The Calico Cat Bookshop
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...