Salt: A World History

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A Mark Kurlansky fan favorite: The unlikely history of the world through a grain of salt—now with a new foreword by NYT bestselling author Simon Winchester.

Homer called salt a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. Today we take it for granted: a common, inexpensive substance that seasons food or clears ice from roads. But as Mark Kurlansky relates in his now-classic book, salt—the only rock we eat—has shaped civilization from the very beginning.

Throughout history, salt has been so valuable that it has served as currency, and its ability to preserve and sustain life made it a common religious symbol. Demand for salt established the world’s earliest trade routes; salt making inspired ingenuity from the creation of natural gas furnaces in ancient China to new drilling techniques that led to the age of petroleum. All the while, salt has shaped food history by way of cod, cheese, olives, and nearly everything in our grocery stores today.

Mark Kurlansky's beloved Salt is a kaleidoscope of history that blends economic, political, religious, and culinary records into a rich tale. Returning to this modern classic, we’re reminded anew of this beloved rock's glittering role in the history of humankind.