Salt

Publisher: Vintage
Publish date: 2003
Pages: 484
Binding: Paperback
Language: English

Subjects: History, World, Social History, Nature, Rocks & Minerals, Natural Resources, Science, Chemistry, Inorganic, Social Science, Anthropology, Cultural & Social, Technology & Engineering, Technical & Manufacturing Industries & Trades, Travel, Essays & Travelogues

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.