History Non fiction?

musicprnt
Mon, 12 Oct 2015 04:21:27 +0000

If you like goofy history (well, goofy serious history), I recommend Mark Kurlansky, his book about Cod and Cod Fishing (Cod:A history), or his book on Oysters, are really great history tied around a topic you would think would be a snooze, but aren’t (he also wrote one on Salt). He also wrote a more serious history of the Basque people, which is fascinating. Another great writer of somewhat goofy fare is Stewart Lee Allen, who wrote a book about the history of Coffee (the Devil’s cup) and of forbidden foods (In the Devil’s Garden), which tell of human triumph and stupidity (like the Cardinal that banned tomato sauce because it was too sensual, stirred up sexual feelings, or various attempts to ban chocolate; the ban on tomato sauce must have been real popular in Italy, surprised the guy wasn’t assasinated as soon as he issued his edict).