The Big Oyster; History on the Half Shell
by Kurlansky, Mark
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- See description
- ISBN 10
- 0345476387
- ISBN 13
- 9780345476388
- Seller
-
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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
- Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 155761
- Title
- The Big Oyster; History on the Half Shell
- Author
- Kurlansky, Mark
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 0345476387
- ISBN 13
- 9780345476388
- Publisher
- Ballantine Books
- Place of Publication
- New York
- This edition first published
- 2006
- Keywords
- Cookery, Oysters, Recipes
- Bookseller catalogs
- Household and Domestic;
Terms of Sale
Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB
Prices net to all in USD. We use Brodart dust jacket protectors. Our records are updated daily. We pack well and ship promptly. . Return your book for a full refund if not as described. More questions? Call us!
About the Seller
Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB
About Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB
Glossary
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- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...