Salt - Mark Kurlansky

An indispensable yet illuminating history of the world, told through its most commonly mined, traded and consumed product: Salt

Homer called it a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. Salt has shaped civilisation from the beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of mankind.

Wars have been fought over salt and, while salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia, they have also inspired revolution - Gandhi's salt march in 1930 was a pivotal act in his campaign to overthrow British rule in India. From the rural Sichuan province where the last home-made soy sauce is produced, to the Cheshire brine springs that supplied salt around the globe,

Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of world history, a multi-layered masterpiece that blends political, commercial, scientific, religious and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.