The Cod
- wars have been fought over it revolutions have been triggered by it national diets have been based on it economies & livelihoods have depended on it. To the millions it has sustained it has been a treasure more precious that gold. This book spans 1 000 years & four continents. From the Vikings to Clarence Birdseye Mark Kurlansky introduces the explorers merchants writers chefs & fisherman whose lives have been interwoven with this prolific fish. He chronicles the cod wars of the 16th & 20th centuries. He blends in recipes & lore from the Middle Ages to the present. In a story that brings world history & human passions into captivating focus he shows how the most profitable fish in history is today faced with extinction.