Of Cod

Kurlansky, Mark. Cod: The Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. New York: Penguin Books, 1997.

This is an interesting book with an overstated sub-title. Kurlansky does fit cod into world history, but this is not a book that tries to explain western civilization based on one fish. Instead it traces the search, destruction and resurrection of this species. From medieval fisherman that traveled to the New World before Columbus in search of cod and developed new ways to store and transport it to the modern dilemma of over fishing Kurlansky paints a subtle portrait of how one species caused wars, altered peace negotiations and is a point of contention to this day. In making this more of a popular history book Kurlansky adds recipes for cooking cod from the various cultures that have used cod as a staple food and based on the changing preservation techniques. At the end of the book the author does become a bit preachy about the  need to preserve the fish, but this is excusable given the tremendous excesses in fishing that he describes throughout the book. In addition, he does highlight the contested nature of fish preservation and the effect that overfishing has had on the economies and cultures of fisherman across the North Atlantic. Showing quotas and fishing bans to not be simple acts of preservation but contested practices that often devastate local fishermen.