They were apparently legendary for their size and flavor in addition to their profusion. This is a little crazy if you’ve been to New York lately, but Kurlansky maintains that back in the day, about 200 years ago, New York’s waterways – the Hudson River and the East River and the various bays – contained half of the world’s oysters. In this case, it’s a history of New York City specifically.
So when I saw The Big Oyster on the audio-book shelf at my public library, I checked it out, knowing roughly what I would get – a history anchored to that particular delicious mollusk.
His books Salt and Cod were both excellent examinations of history in the context of those minerals and fishes. Mark Kurlansky might be the king of the micro-history.
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