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History on the Half Shell
Ballantine
March 2006
320 pages
ISBN: 0345476387
Hardcover
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Historical
Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitantsรฏยฟยฝthe oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled. For centuries New York was famous for its oysters, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the cityรฏยฟยฝs economy, gastronomy, and ecology that the abundant bivalves were Gothamรฏยฟยฝs most celebrated export, a staple food for the wealthy, the poor, and tourists alike, and the primary natural defense against pollution for the cityรฏยฟยฝs congested waterways. Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insightรฏยฟยฝalong with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photosรฏยฟยฝthis dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the island hunting ground of the Lenape Indians to the death of the oyster beds and the rise of Americaรฏยฟยฝs environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattanรฏยฟยฝs Gilded Age dining chambers. Kurlansky brings characters vividly to life while recounting dramatic incidents that changed the course of New York history. Here are the stories behind Peter Stuyvesantรฏยฟยฝs peg leg and Robert Fultonรฏยฟยฝs รฏยฟยฝFollyรฏยฟยฝ; the oyster merchant and pioneering African American leader Thomas Downing; the birth of the business lunch at Delmonicoรฏยฟยฝs; early feminist Fanny Fern, one of the highest-paid newspaper writers in the city; even รฏยฟยฝDiamondรฏยฟยฝ Jim Brady, who we discover was not the gourmand of popular legend. With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.
 Media BuzzWeekend Edition Sunday - April 9, 2006
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