Mark Kurlansky

Homer called it a divine substance Plato described it as especially dear to the gods As Mark Kurlansky so brilliantly relates here salt has shaped civilisation from the beginning and its story is a glittering often surprising part of the history of mankind Wars have been fought over salt and while salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia they have also inspired revolution Gandhi s salt march in 1930 began the overthrow of British rule in India From the rural Sichuan province where the last home made soya sauce is produced to the Cheshire brine springs that supplied salt around the globe Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of world history a multi layered masterpiece that blends political commercial scientific religious and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale

"La primera pista, lliçó número u de la història humana sobre el tema de la noviolència, és que no hi ha cap terme per designar-la". El llibre de Mark Kurlansky ens mostra, però, que sempre hi ha hag

The conventional history of nations, even continents, is a history of warfare. According to this view, all the important ideas and significant changes of humankind were put forward in an effort to win one violent bloody conflict or another.This approach to history is only one of many examples of how societies promote warfare and glorify violence. But there have always been a few who have refused to fight. Governments have long regarded this minority as a danger to society and have imprisoned and abused them and encouraged their persecution.This was true of those who refused Europe's wars, who refused to fight for their king, who refused to fight for Napoleon as well as against him. It was true of Virginia Woolf's sister Vanessa and her husband Clive Bell - outcasts in rural Sussex because they opposed World War I at a time when the British socialist movement described a bayonet as a weapon with a worker on each end.It was true of the first American draft dodger, a Menonite who believed in American independence but believed it was wrong to use violence and rejected the call of his local militia. It was true of the many abolitionists who had dedicated their lives to stopping slavery but refused to fight in the Civil War.Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and, most impressively, the Menonites and the Quakers - all have passages in their major teachings rejecting warfare as immoral. In this brilliant exploration of pacifism, these points of view are discussed alongside such diverse non-violence theorists as Tolstoy, Shelley, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Aldous Huxley, Erasmus, Confucius and Lao Tse to show how many modern ideas - such as a united Europe, the United Nations, and the abolition of slavery - originated in such non-violence movements.

It was the year of sex and drugs and rock and roll; it was also the year of the Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assassinations, Prague Spring, the Chicago convention, the anti-war movement and the Tet Offensive, the student rebellion that paralyzed France, Civil Rights, the generation gap, the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union, and the birth of the women''s movement. With 1968: The Year that Rocked the World, award-winning journalist Mark Kurlansky has written his magnum opus-a cultural and political history of that world-changing year of social upheaval, when television''s impact on global events first became apparent, and where simultaneously, in Paris, Prague, London, Berkeley, Chicago, New York and all over the globe uprisings spontaneously occurred. 1968 encompasses the worlds of youth and music, politics, war, economics, assassinations, riots, and demonstrations-and the media, and shows us how we got to where we are today. 1968 is destined to be Mark Kurlansky''s most important and most fascinating book yet.

Given its broad and vibrant subject, it would be quite difficult for a writer of any proficiency to pen a boring book on 1968, and Mark Kurlansky has indeed pulled together an entertaining and enlightening popular history with 1968: The Year That Rocked the World. With the Vietnam War and Soviet repression providing sparkplugs in the East and West, student movements heated up in Berkeley, Prague, Mexico City, Paris, and dozens of other hotspots. With youth in ascendancy, music, film, and athletics became generational battlegrounds between opposition forces that couldn''t be more appalled with one another. Not so fortuitously, the Summer Olympics in Mexico City and a presidential election in the United States conspired to elevate the tension higher as months passed. Kurlansky is skilled at concisely capturing the personalities behind the conflicts, whether they be heartbroken Czech leader Alexander Dubcek as Eastern Bloc troops violently suppress his nation''s uprising or respected veteran newsman Walter Cronkite reluctantly editorializing against the war in Vietnam. The author is more than willing to choose heroes (the doomed Robert Kennedy) and villains (victorious presidential candidate Richard Nixon), and clearly sides with the rebels in most cases. In general, Kurlansky is more adept at covering the political front than he is the equally revolutionary arts world, and it''s apparent that any chapter in this book could be expanded into a book of its own. One''s expectation is that captivated readers will view 1968 as a portal into a deeper exploration of a fascinating time. --Steven Stolder

It's the boom years of the 1980s, and life is closing in on Nathan Seltzer, who rarely travels outside his suddenly gentrifying Lower East Side neighbourhood. In between paralyzing bouts of claustrophobia, Nathan wonders whether he should cheat on his wife with Karoline, a German pastry maker whose parents may or may not have been Nazis. His father, Harry, is plotting with the 1960s boogaloo star Chow Mein Vega for the comeback of this dance craze. Meanwhile, a homicidal drug addict is terrorizing the neighbourhood. With its ensemble cast of unforgettable characters, Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue is a comedy of cultures about the old and the new, about Latinos, Jews, Sicilians and Germans. It's about struggling to hold onto life in a rapidly changing world, about food and sex and about how our lives are shaped by love and guilt.

La historia vasca del mundo es el esclarecedor relato de un pueblo antiguo y enigmático. A pesar de su origen oscuro y de tener una población reducida, los vascos han tenido una profunda influencia en Europa y el mundo a lo largo de mas de dos mil años. Han combinado siempre la fidelidad a la propia tradicion con una amplitud de miras universal: preservando su sistema legal autonomo, la cocina, la literatura y hasta la indumentaria, se han esforzado sin complejos por ser la avanzadilla del mundo. La pasion de Mark Kurlansky por los vascos y su mirada minuciosa y penetrante han permitido construir este gran fresco que combina el relato de las vidas humanas con la historia economica, politica, literaria y culinaria de esta pueblo, que actualmente vive un

La historia definitiva de un material que ha dado forma a nuestro mundo. El papel es una de las tecnologías más esenciales. Durante miles de años, la habilidad de producir este material de una forma cada vez mas eficiente ha contribuido al desarrollo de la alfabetizacion, los medios de comunicacion, las religiones, la educacion, el comercio y el arte. El papel ha sido el cimiento sobre el que se han erigido civilizaciones, ha avivado revoluciones y ha restaurado la estabilidad en territorios sumidos en el caos. En una sociedad cada vez mas digital y enfrascada en un debate sobre la cultura sin papel, el ser humano se encuentra ahora en una encrucijada historica. En Papel, Kurlansky sigue los pasos de esta tecnologia a traves de la historia y nos lleva desde sus origenes en lugares lejanos hasta la actualidad, pasando por la Grecia clasica y la Edad Media europea, para mostrarnos hasta que punto este material es clave para las sociedades y por que perdurara en nuestras vidas. Esta obra es una defensa apasionada del papel y una lectura fascinante sobre uno de los inventos fundamentales de la humanidad.

Un manifiesto necesario. Un arma pacífica para cambiar el mundo.«Es mi deseo y mi plegaria que este libro no solo llame la atención de los lectores sino que también cause un efecto profundo en ellos.

Una lectura apasionante -Dan Rather, presentador por las noticias de la CBS.Una mirada periodística al año que conmocionó al mundo. Para algunos éste fue el año del sexo, las drogas y el rock and roll, pero 1968 fue mucho mas, fue considerado el año de el mayo frances, la primavera de Praga, los disturbios en Estados Unidos, la lucha por los derechos civiles de los negros, la revuelta de los universitarios de la costa oeste, la liberarcion de la mujer, el principio del fin de la Union Sovietica, los asesinatos de Bobby Kennedy y Luther King, la guerra del Vietnam, las huelgas obreras en Varsovia, los movimientos estudiantiles en la España franquista... Un recorrido a traves de la politica, la musica, los jovenes, la guerra, la economia o los medios de comunicacion de este año convulso, cuyos acontecimientos han marcado el curso del mundo moderno. Todo ello contado con su peculiar estilo pedagogico, por medio de anecdotas o analisis profundos.

The internationally bestselling author says if we can save the salmon we can save the world

Mark Kurlansky ha desenvolupat tota la seva vida professional a lentorn de la gastronomia i de la història dels aliments. Actualment és escriptor, però en la seva joventut va treballar en vaixells de

Homero se refería a ella como sustancia divina. Platón contaba que era especialemente apreciada por los dioses. En la actualidad, damos por supuesta su presencia en la mesa. Sin embargo, la sal (la única piedra comestible) ha influido en la configuracion de nuestra civilizacion desde sus comienzos. Mercancia codiciada por hombres de todas las epocas, hasta el punto de utilizarla en muchos lugares como moneda, la necesidad de sal definio las primeras rutas comerciales, que atravesaban oceanos desconocidos y desiertos remotos. Debido a su valor, la sal ha provocado y financiado guerras y los impuestos que se crearon sobre ella sirvieron para afianzar imperios en europa y Asia. Su historia abarca temas tan dispares como la ingenieria, la religion y la gastronomia. Pocos empeños han aguzado tanto el ingenio como la elaboracion de la sal, desde los hornos de gas natural de la antigua china hasta las tecnicas de perforacion que desembocaron en la era del petroleo. Asimismo, los ingresos procdentes de la sal han financiado algunas de las obra publicas mas importantes de la historia, como por ejemplo, la Gran Muralla China. Su capacidad para conservar y preservar la vida la convirtio en un simbolo para todas las religiones. Sal es un relato aderezado con personajes pintorescos, curiosidades gastronomicas, politicas, cientificas e historicas. Una obra caleidoscopica, en definitiva, que sintetiza, a traves de algo tan simple como un grano de sal, la historia de la humanidad.