Salt: A World History

By Mark Kurlansky

From the award-winning and bestselling author of Cod comes the dramatic, human story of a simple substance, an element almost as vital as water, that has created fortunes, provoked revolutions, directed economies and enlivened our recipes.

Salt is common, easy to obtain and inexpensive. It is the stuff of kitchens and cooking. Yet trade routes were established, alliances built and empires secured – all for something that filled the oceans, bubbled up from springs, formed crusts in lake beds, and thickly veined a large part of the Earth’s rock fairly close to the surface. From pre-history until just a century ago – when the mysteries of salt were revealed by modern chemistry and geology – no one knew that salt was virtually everywhere. Accordingly, it was one of the most sought-after commodities in human history. Even today, salt is a major industry. Canada, Kurlansky tells us, is the world’s sixth largest salt producer, with salt works in Ontario playing a major role in satisfying the Americans’ insatiable demand.

As he did in his highly acclaimed Cod, Mark Kurlansky once again illuminates the big picture by focusing on one seemingly modest detail. In the process, the world is revealed as never before.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307369796

Mark Kurlansky

Mark Kurlansky is the New York Times bestselling author of Milk!, Havana, Paper, The Big Oyster, 1968, Salt, The Basque History of the World, Cod, and Salmon, among other titles. He has received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Bon Appétit's Food Writer of the Year Award, the James Beard Award, and the Glenfiddich Award. He lives in New York City. www.markkurlansky.com

Reviews for Salt

[gwendydd · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I was really disappointed by this.First of all, it's not a world history. Asia and Egypt are discussed briefly at the beginning, there are a few paragraphs about salt production in the Americas once the Europeans get there, but otherwise, this is a very Euro-centric history of salt.Secondly, it is almost entirely an economic history. I was hoping for more of a cultural history, with references to art and literature and analysis of what role salt played in culture, but that is entirely absent. Instead, there is a lot of discussion of salt taxes. That's interesting in its way, but not what I was hoping to learn. There is some discussion of the technology of making salt, but the technology is never explained in any detail and is often somewhat confusing.On top of that, it's just not a good work of history. Kurlansky jumps from one topic to another with no transitions, and often jumps centuries in confusing ways (like quoting a recipe book from the 1960s when discussing Irish salt making in the 1600s). Kurlansky never discusses or analyses his sources. He quotes a lot of recipes, but never talks about how reliable recipe books are or who wrote them and why. Other than that, there are no footnotes or references, and absolutely no discussion of where any of this information comes from.In other words, this book is just a dry, unflavored list of statements about how salt has been used. There is no central argument to the book and no analysis of any kind. There were parts of the book that had the potential to be really interesting, but Kurlansky managed to make it all boring.

[ffortsa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A mostly very engaging history of human relationships with salt, from pre-Roman times until now. An important commodity from those early times, it was mined and traded in eastern Europe, evaporated from the sea and brine springs in many place, and stimulated interesting invention throughout. The Chinese taxed it, the British outlawed its production in India to support their own salt imports, the Union Army captured salt evaporating areas along the seacoast and mines elsewhere to deny salt to the Confederate Army. And until refrigeration was invented, salt was a necessity for preserving fish and meat.In spite of warnings today, we consume a lot less salt than before refrigeration. Of course, we do less hard manual labor as well, sweating less of it out of our systems. But its necessity lingers in production of foodstuffs such as caviar and cured meats and fish, and wherever hunting and fishing is a local source of protein.Aside from a few slow spots, I recommend this book as an enriching viewpoint to more traditional histories.A mostly very engaging history of human relationships with salt, from pre-Roman times until now. An important commodity from those early times, it was mined and traded in eastern Europe, evaporated from the sea and brine springs in many place, and stimulated interesting invention throughout. The Chinese taxed it, the British outlawed its production in India to support their own salt imports, the Union Army captured salt evaporating areas along the seacoast and mines elsewhere to deny salt to the Confederate Army. And until refrigeration was invented, salt was a necessity for preserving fish and meat.In spite of warnings today, we consume a lot less salt than before refrigeration. Of course, we do less hard manual labor as well, sweating less of it out of our systems. But its necessity lingers in production of foodstuffs such as caviar and cured meats and fish, and wherever hunting and fishing is a local source of protein.Aside from a few slow spots, I recommend this book as an enriching viewpoint to more traditional histories.

[miaculpa-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not that long ago, the thought that I would one day read a book on the history of salt was an unusual thought indeed. But here we are, post-"Salt" reading. And as far as salt-based histories are concerned, "Salt" is a good one.Covering almost the entire breadth of human history and geography, Kurlansky gives us the low down on our dependence on salt, taking in Gandhi, the salt tax and famous topiary like the Great Hedge of India, as well as how we've been preserving food with salt since Adam was a boy.

[kaitanya64 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was..meh...okay. I felt like it was much more about food than I was hoping. There are brief references to how salt fits into the bigger picture but I felt like the author either avoided or didn't recognize the many places where this could have been connected to larger historical events in a deeper, more interesting way. I feel like this just is not what I am looking for in popular history, more like loosely connected anecdotes than analysis.

[melydia_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A (really, really long) history of the world's most ubiquitous seasoning. A lot of it was really interesting, particularly the varied methods of salt production and the politics involved. However, there is also a whole lot about salting fish, making cheese, and pickling vegetables. Especially fish. So much fish. So it's worth reading, for the most part, but you might want to skim the recipes.

[lalagee-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

this book is best used as a sleep aid

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Food and history--one of my favorite kinds of nonfiction book. And who knew salt could be so interesting? I ended up enjoying this more than I expected, and I learned a ton about historic salt production--the use as ballast in ships, the raking, the boiling, the mining. The kinds of salted fish (my dad remembers soaking some kind of salted fish, I don't know the word in English, he only knows how to pronounce it in Genoese). The meats, the sauerkrauts, so many foods depended on salt.And now most salt is used for road de-icing.

[jsoos_7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating history of salt and salt-making from around the world. the author puts together a nice history of the making of salt and how controlling those resources drove many world events/wars/possessions through history. The importance of salt making in colonial America was great. the last several chapters do seem to wander a bit off topic - but the first 350 pages or so are great!

[stef7sa-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting read, full of surprising facts, sometimes a bit dull, when discussing each and every country involved in producing salt. Sometimes you wonder whether the salt industry really was a major concern in all world events, but then again the author is convincing.

[sovranty · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This historical biography of salt spans the length of history, or at least as far back as can be reported to present. Salt has played significantly different roles throughout history with different cultures at to differing degrees of importance - financially, gastronomically and culturally. While some parts of the book are a bit redundant, just as any historical subject can be when influencing and participating in world history, the majority of the book is well written and fast paced. Mark Kurlansky details what needs to be detailed and skims appropriately. The evolving recipes peppered throughout the reading are entertaining.

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Salt is a book about ... you guessed it, salt. It discusses salt's many uses and its role in the history of many countries and empires throughout the globe.I really wanted to like this the book -- it sounded like a neat concept and I had heard so much buzz about it. But I just couldn't get in to it. The problem is the long and the short of the book is that salt has been an important commodity world over that has significant value. But once Kurlansky made that point in the introduction, it didn't seem like it would be necessary to have to keep making that point. Yet that's precisely what the remaining 400 pages do. Every once in a while there would be an informative tidbit that made me go, "huh, interesting," but there was also just a lot of long explanations about how to salt and cure meat, the ingredients of ancient recipes that include salt, and so on and so on. I'm guessing this appeals to some -- it would explain the popularity of the book -- but it just didn't do it for me. I also found the book to be rather haphazard in its execution. It *sort of* follows a chronological trail, except that it jumps back and forth between time and place rather frequently as yet another random factoid is thrown in. It's obvious that Kurlansky did tons of research and work to pull this all together, but it just wasn't my cup of tea ... or perhaps more fittingly, it wasn't my shaker of salt.For the audiobook listener, Scott Brick was the reader, which I thought forebode good things, given how excellent a reader he has been in the past. But this book - with its rather dull list of facts - didn't provide much good fodder and I found Brick to be just adequate.

[michaelc0oliveira · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great audio book for a commute. I have enjoyed other books of this genre.

[librisissimo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Substance: Lots of details about how the salt trade (production distribution, and taxation) impacted cultures and countries around the world in every historical era.The main lesson is that if governments don't have some effective opposition, they will tax any necessity, monopolize its production distribution, and generally cause havoc among their people, including penury and death.(If it's not salt, it will be something else, although the author doesn't go there.)Full of fascinating facts and anecdotes.Style: Not overly-scholarly, although well-sourced. Casual narrative but not trendy.

[vdunn-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

History told through the story of salt. Sounds dull, but it's fascinating. This book gave me a much greater appreciation for salt and the role it played in our history. It was the oil of its day.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fun, well written informative book about the history of salt. It includes recipes, history, chemistry - everything about how humans use salt from early history to today. Its interesting, well-written, has a sense of humour, and is enjoyable to read. I learned a number of new things, including recipes, history, culture, and chemistry. Always a good feeling when a book you read makes you feel smarter by the end.Highly recommended reading!

[bianca8sayan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Holy crap. Mark Kurlansky should just rewrite the history curriculum for pretty much every school system out there; he would fix everything. This book is amazing: filled with the most interesting stories and facts and yet terribly fun to read. I don't think I've ever been so excited reading a history book. Must Read!

[timmyp-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kurlansky wrote "Salt" well. I would have given it four stars but at times I feel as if he was a bit repetitive in his descriptions. Anyway, his book goes through the history of humankind's' use of salt and how that salt use created certain cities and trade routes. Never realized how important salt was. In history it has led to war, trading rivalries and empires and city-states flourished because of salt production. All in all a very interesting book. If you like world history this book is for you as it hits pretty much every continent.

[terribooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I generally enjoy history, when written from an unusual perspective. The idea of the history of salt (whoever thinks about salt?!) sounded interesting to me. Alas, I was not entranced. There were some interesting parts and some not-so-interesting. While I certainly know more about salt than I did a few days ago, I didn't find that the story of salt gave me much insight into the world.

[karlnarveson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Lots of recipes, both for making salt and for using it; a great aggregation of details about the salt trade through the ages; and not much evidence that this pile has been sifted or molded into any memorable shape.

[rajivc_18 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I quite liked this book. The writing style is light, and easy to read. This makes it easy, considering the number of facts that I picked up about salt. I have always considered Salt to be a commodity, and I have never given it much thought until I picked up this book. I picked it up from the bookshop more out of random curiosity than anything else.Then, I started to read the book. I was quite overwhelmed by the facts surrounding salt, it's history, it's uses, and the importance it has played in human historyThis is definitely a book worth reading

[nog_5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

More than you'll ever need to know on the subject. Really bogs down after a few chapters.

[lukespapa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Who knew that a history of salt could be so interesting? Tons of facts weaved in a narrative style that is easy to "digest". Along the way, the reader picks up plenty of interesting "general" historical details. Want to know why some caviar is so much more expensive than others? Did you know that drilling for oil was an accidental byproduct of looking for salt? Hopefully, that is enough to whet your "appetite" for this book.

[mana_tominaga_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An amazing overview of world history which explores the centrality of salt.

[grizzly9anderson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Salt disabused me of a few things I thought I knew about the history of salt that were wrong (or at least I assume they were, since I can't imagine how they'd have been left out if they were true) and taught me a lot more.If you start with the assumption that by telling world history through the lens of salt, as it were, the history will be a little skewed, it is an excellent book. Was salt really a major driving force in the US Civil War? Probably not to the degree you might think if this was your only source. Was it still at least tactically important? Almost certainly.The history is engaging and easy to read covering with fact or reasonable conjecture the involvement of salt across a few thousand years of human history. Along the way it touches on some other interesting technologies, developments, and events (drilling techniques, canal building, India and British colonial policy to name a few). And for someone who just enjoys collecting random bits of information to annoy their friends at parties it is a great source of information. For instance, did you know that ketchup was originally a salt-preserved fish sauce?I can easily see how Kurlansky would arrive at a book on salt after writing a book on Cod, since salt is so heavily involved in food preservation, especially fish. Much as like this one, I'm not sure I'm ready to run out and read another one of his food-centered histories.

[dreamreader_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating history of salt, from its origins as a form of currency in ancient Rome (thus the word 'salary') to the many techniques of harvesting and varieties of salt on our planet. Kurlansky turns this basic chemical element into a saga of both historical and culinary delight.

[jphilbrick_3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

maybe i'm not in a good "place" for reading nonfiction right now, i don't know, but this was the longest feeling read i've had in a while. the only reason i finally made it is that i want to get back to fiction asap.it's not that it was too much info about salt, but as with most commodity histories i've read, it just made me depressed about industrialization and environmental degredation. this also struck me as a book by a guy writing about salt but really wanting to be writing about fishing. or maybe that's just because i read cod.

[daveb4123 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this! A friend gave this from their library ( which I frequently raided, in search of off the beaten track type stuff) I don't know what this might say about me, since they nailed my two favorite subjects, inside info + historical trivia.Heard author also wrote exhaustive book on Cod.

[dele2451 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As unlikely as it sounds, this book about common salt is truly fascinating. Kurlansky tracks the progress (and transgressions) of humans and civilizations as they discover the amazing powers of salt. Empires rise and fall, inventions abound, daily diets and world economies are all dramatically transformed and it's all because of an inexpensive substance most of us take for granted. I found "Salt" to be a very tasty educational epic consisting of a little basic chemistry, some fundamental geology, a hint of art, a good dose of engineering, some light humor, a smidgeon of cooking and a generous portion of world history. I doubt anyone who reads this book will ever look at their salt shaker the same way again. Definitely worth the read.

[ablueidol · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

World history of the extraction and use of salt and its consequences for human life. Interesting insight into how it shaped political and economic forces from the strategic weakness of the south in the USA civil war to the raise and decline of Venice etc. And promoted and sustained the power of the state-interesting potential for a Marxist case study here.

[ravenclaw79 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Wow, this book was dull. Educational, yes, but dry and dense -- I felt like I should get college credit for reading it.