Most of what we do on land ends up impacting the ocean, but never is that clearer than when we look at salmon. Centuries of our greatest assaults on nature, from overfishing to dams, from hatcheries to fish farms, from industrial pollution to the ravages of climate change, can be seen in their harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle.
From the Pacific to the Atlantic, through Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Iceland, Japan and Siberia, Mark Kurlansky traces the history of the world through his fish-eye lens, laying bare our misdirected attempts to manipulate salmon for our own benefit. Attempts that have had a devastating impact on both fish and earth.
Now, the only way to save salmon is to save the planet, and the only way to save the planet may be to save the salmon.
About the Author
Mark Kurlansky is the New York Times bestselling author of Cod, Salt, Paper, The Basque History of the World, 1968, The Big Oyster, International Night, The Eastern Stars, A Continent of Islands, and The White Man in the Tree and Other Stories. He received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonviolence, Bon Appetit's Food Writer of the Year Award, the James Beard Award, and the Glenfiddich Award. Salt was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist. He spent ten years as Caribbean correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. He lives in New York City.
www.markkurlansky.com.
Industry Reviews
'It is a beautiful book, spangled throughout with stunning color photographs of a lovely fish, of pristine streams and landscapes. It's a coffee-table book shrunk to shelf-size, but the images are pertinent and illuminating, and there is nothing throwaway about the text that surrounds them or about the recipes for salmon dishes from all over the world and past centuries.'
Wall Street Journal
'What Kurlansky did for Cod, he now does for Salmon - a book not just for fishermen, but for everyone who cares about our world. A blistering account of "civilised" man's blind obsession with bending Nature and its resources to his will.'
Geoffrey Palmer OBE
'More than an environmental book about overfishing, the text includes a comprehensive natural and cultural history about how the salmon impacts the world... A fascinating mosaic of history and science... The real beauty of the book is in its subtle transformation of a species often thought of in terms of food into one that needs to be considered with care and even championed.'
Foreword Reviews
'[A] handsomely illustrated work of natural history and environmental advocacy... In championing a critically important part of the natural world, Kurlansky sounds an urgent alarm that commands our attention.'
Kirkus
