The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World - Hardcover

Zuckerman, Larry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571199518 ISBN 13: 9780571199518

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 1998

Synopsis

Explains the pivotal role that potatoes have played in Western history from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries

About this title

Review

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the potato was berated, feared and loathed. It was blamed for everything from population explosions to population implosions, not to mention social upheaval and financial despair. Yet now, with the luxury of hindsight, Larry Zuckerman regards the potato as a saving grace for Western civilisation, a crop that protected populations from starvation, encouraged self-sufficiency, and improved the lives of ordinary people. The potato's roller-coaster journey from dreary boiled peasant food into the most widely consumed vegetable on the planet is chronicled in this refreshing history lesson. The Potato goes way beyond the usual scope of spud history, which commonly focuses on the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s. Although this disaster is a key event in the book, the potato's broader influence in the Western world was far more complex--changing the shape of agrarian societies, triggering world emigration and even influencing social-welfare reforms. Snippets from journals, newspaper editorials and government documents make this a convincing and fascinating glimpse of four centuries' worth of a vegetable to which we normally wouldn't give a second thought. --Naomi Gesinger

Review

"Throrough and lively....Zuckerman is an excellent storyteller, both conscientious and colloquial....The book stimulates and illuminates."--Emily Gordon, "Newsday"
"The story of the potato in Western civilization is part of the history of the table, of living conditions, of social attitudes, and even of views of heredity and degeneration. Zuckerman's exploration of these areas without losing his grip on the tuber is masterful, excuted with economy and wit."--Katherine A. Powers, "The Boston Sunday Globe"

Throrough and lively....Zuckerman is an excellent storyteller, both conscientious and colloquial....The book stimulates and illuminates. "Emily Gordon, Newsday"

The story of the potato in Western civilization is part of the history of the table, of living conditions, of social attitudes, and even of views of heredity and degeneration. Zuckerman's exploration of these areas without losing his grip on the tuber is masterful, excuted with economy and wit. "Katherine A. Powers, The Boston Sunday Globe""

"Throrough and lively....Zuckerman is an excellent storyteller, both conscientious and colloquial....The book stimulates and illuminates." --Emily Gordon, Newsday

"The story of the potato in Western civilization is part of the history of the table, of living conditions, of social attitudes, and even of views of heredity and degeneration. Zuckerman's exploration of these areas without losing his grip on the tuber is masterful, excuted with economy and wit." --Katherine A. Powers, The Boston Sunday Globe

Edition details

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571199518
• ISBN 13: 9780571199518
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304