This is an extraordinary tale of nature and calamity. The telling of the tale is a literary tour-de-force. The importance of the tale is imperative. I cannot fathom any person, who cares about the world around them, not being entertained and disturbed by this book. If you remain unsure that you want to invest the time, please just read the final chapter, "Enduring Shellfishness." I had tears in my eyes, the whole time, brought on my a non-fiction account of humans v. nature. So instructive of our times, a century later. So beautifully written. I cannot recommend this book enough.

This still doesn't reach the level of awesomeness that is [Book: Salt]. But then, what could? The drift of the text seems to veer away from oysters quite a bit and much of the history in these passages seems to be regular happenings wherein someone at some point eats an oyster or serves an oyster or uses the word oyster in some fashion. It hardly seems as much a fundamental building block of what is going on in the narrative at times.

A fascinating history of New York City, oysters, and America's uncanny ability to deplete and exploit every single resource available. Kurlansky does an excellent job of painting a picture of everyday life in historic NYC, from brothel encounters and market transactions to lavish parties thrown for dignitaries. This is my second book of his, my first being Cod, and he holds up as an incredibly inventive nonfiction writer able to tell a much larger story by looking at one subject through a microscope. Hoping to read Salt and Paper soon.

A unique history, primarily of New York City, that uses the oyster as its focal point. (The book does delve briefly into how the oyster impacted other European cities of note, as well)

The oyster in NYC is a history that has become forgotten with the death of the infamous oyster beds, but this is a great tale of how oysters were crucial to the development of a colony into a city of Gilded Age excess. My one quibble was the somewhat shallow depiction of the colonial politics and interactions with Native Americans (read Taylor's "American Colonies" for a better discussion of that), but otherwise, a top notch and engaging history.