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The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell
by: Mark Kurlansky

List Price: $14.95

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Used Price: $6.25
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.694
EAN: 9780345476395
ISBN: 0345476395
Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: January 09, 2007
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Release Date: January 09, 2007
Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Sales Rank: 14399

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
“Part treatise, part miscellany, unfailingly entertaining.”
–The New York Times

“A small pearl of a book . . . a great tale of the growth of a modern city as seen through the rise and fall of the lowly oyster.”
–Rocky Mountain News

Award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants–the oyster.
For centuries New York was famous for this particular shellfish, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city’s life that the abundant bivalves were Gotham’s most celebrated export, a staple food for all classes, and a natural filtration system for the city’s congested waterways.

Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight–along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos–this dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the seventeenth-century founding of New York to the death of its oyster beds and the rise of America’s environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan’s Gilded Age dining chambers. With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.

“Suffused with [Kurlansky’s] pleasure in exploring the city across ground that hasn’t already been covered with other writers’ footprints.”
–Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Fascinating stuff . . . [Kurlansky] has a keen eye for odd facts and natural detail.”
–The Wall Street Journal

“Kurlansky packs his breezy book with terrific anecdotes.”
–Entertainment Weekly

“Magnificent . . . a towering accomplishment.”
–Associated Press

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- The Natural Wonder of NYC
This is an eye-opening book about the bounty that surrounded New York in the early years of the city, amazing for those of us who grew up locally in the pollution and grime of the late 20th century. For oyster lovers, the story is even more heartbreaking, as oysters used to be available for 10 cents each as opposed to being flown in from far-off lands for many times that. But, it is fun to consider all those oysters and the recipes contained in the book. I think I'll stop by the Oyster Bar the next time I'm in town!

Rating:

- Do I have to write a book report?
I'll grant that Mark Kurlansky did his homework.He provides an extensive Bibliography and the narrative is filled with many, many, many facts. That's exactly the problem. The book is overflowing with details. For the first time in many years I felt I was reading a history assignment - hence the title of this Review.

I did glean many interesting facts, both big and small. Trouble is, the facts just keep coming. As other reviewers have indicated there are numerous recipes in the book but I would venture to say that most of them are for food historians, not chefs. One brief example is the following recipe: "To Roast a Leg of Lamb with Oysters. Take a Leg about two or three Days kill'd. Stuff it all over with Oysters and roast it. Garnish it with horse-raddish." Yup! That's the whole, ... Read More

Rating:

- Can't beat it.
History, History, History. And we continue to live it. Know our past control our future.

Rating:

- Too Much for a Magazine Artice; Not Enough for a Book
At first it seems curious that Mark Kurlansky would want to write a history of a city and its residents whom he so thoroughly dislikes. Then it becomes clear that the protagonists are the oysters, not the city or the people, and those oysters would still be doing just fine if it weren't for the depredations of civilization. Eventually you get caught up in the saga, but it's a little thin, so the author adds copious amounts of non-oyster New York City history. This part will seem somewhat duplicative of "The Island at the Center of the World," but it's almost as interesting the second time around. Then, just as you start taking him seriously as a historian, Kurlansky starts making the kind of egregious factual errors that throw his scholarship into question. On page 15, for instance he states ... Read More

Rating:

- Too Many Mistakes To Take Seriously
I love oysters, and New York history, and was looking forward to this, but as other reviewers pointed out simply has too many mistakes to be taken seriously.

I will add to the list:
a. he claims Robert Fulton invented the submarine. False. There have been many variations of submarines hundreds of years before Fulton, and one of the first military uses was during the American revolution.
b. He claims the New York delegation didn't sign the Declaration of Independence.

That's what did me in. Anyone who let an error like that slip through shouldn't be writing history books, even about oysters. I hesitated to finish it because he lost all credibility with me and the last thing I want to do is read mis-information. I can't believe that someone published a book with ... Read More

Books : The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell