盐的世界史（马克·科兰斯基） Salt:A World History

基本信息

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Walker & Co (1 Nov. 2001)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 484 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802713734

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802713735

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 14.88 x 4.19 x 21.08 cm

页面参数仅供参考，具体以实物为准

书籍简介

荷马称盐为神物。柏拉图将其描述为诸神特别珍爱的物质。今天，我们认为盐是理所当然的，它是一种常见的、廉价的物质，可以调味食物或清除路面上的冰雪，在表达中被随意地使用（"地球之盐"、"加点盐吧"），却不了解其深层含义。然而，正如马克-库兰斯基（Mark Kurlansky）在其包罗万象的新书中精彩讲述的那样，盐，我们的岩石，从一开始就塑造了人类文明。它的故事是人类历史中闪闪发光、常常令人惊讶的一部分。

大约 100 年前，现代化学和地质学揭示了盐的普遍存在，在此之前，盐一直是抢手的商品，这也难怪，因为没有盐，人类和动物就无法生存。人们常常认为盐非常珍贵，以至于把它当作货币，如今在一些地方，人们仍然把它当作货币来交换。对盐的需求开辟了早期的贸易路线，跨越未知的海洋和偏远的沙漠，杰里科城就是在近 1 万年前作为盐贸易中心而建立的。由于盐的价值，盐引发并资助了一些战争，也是其他战争的战略要素，如美国革命和南北战争。盐税为欧洲和亚洲的帝国提供了保障，也激发了革命（1930 年甘地的食盐大游行开始推翻英国在印度的统治）。事实上，盐一直是关于政府征税和控制经济的权利这一古老争论的核心。

盐的故事涵盖了工程和食品等不同领域，库兰斯基对所有这些领域都进行了丰富的探索。从古代中国的天然气炉到导致石油时代到来的钻探技术，很少有什么事业能比制盐更能激发人们的创造力，盐的收入为历史上一些伟大的公共工程（包括伊利运河）甚至城市（纽约州锡拉丘兹）提供了资金。

同样重要的是，盐塑造了奶酪、酸菜、橄榄等食物的历史，屡获殊荣的美食作家库兰斯基在书中讲述了这些食物如何反过来塑造了世界文明和饮食习惯。

从公元前 250 年建造了世界上的里程碑式大坝的中国官僚李冰，到 1901 年不顾地质学家的建议，在得克萨斯州东部盐丘钻探并发现了巨大石油储量，从而开创了石油时代的帕蒂洛-希金斯和安东尼-卢卡斯，盐矿中的人物丰富多彩。从英国柴郡沉没的盐镇到路易斯安那州艾弗里岛上的盐矿；从用盐铺路的加勒比海偏远岛屿到制作一种自制酱油的四川省农村，马克-库兰斯基制作了一个历史万花筒，一部多层次的杰作，将经济、科学、政治、和烹饪记录融合成一个丰富而令人难忘的故事。

Homer called salt a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. Today we take salt for granted, a common, inexpensive substance that seasons food or clears ice from roads, a word used casually in expressions ("salt of the earth," take it with a grain of salt") without appreciating their deeper meaning. However, as Mark Kurlansky so brilliantly relates in his world- encompassing new book, salt—the only rock we eat—has shaped civilization from the very beginning. Its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of mankind.

Until about 100 years ago, when modern chemistry and geology revealed how prevalent it is, salt was one of the most sought-after commodities, and no wonder, for without it humans and animals could not live. Salt has often been considered so valuable that it served as currency, and it is still exchanged as such in places today. Demand for salt established the earliest trade routes, across unknown oceans and the remotest of deserts: the city of Jericho was founded almost 10,000 years ago as a salt trading center. Because of its worth, salt has provoked and financed some wars, and been a strategic element in others, such as the American Revolution and the Civil War. Salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia and have also inspired revolution (Gandhi's salt march in 1930 began the overthrow of British rule in India); indeed, salt has been central to the age-old debate about the rights of government to tax and control economies.

The story of salt encompasses fields as disparate as engineering, religion, and food, all of which Kurlansky richly explores. Few endeavors have inspired more ingenuity than salt be made, from the natural gas furnaces of ancient China to the drilling techniques that led to the age of petroleum, and salt revenues have funded some of the greatest public works in history, including the Erie Canal, and even cities (Syracuse, New York). Salt's ability to preserve and to sustain life has made it a metaphorical symbol in all religions. Just as significantly, salt has shaped the history of foods like cheese, sauerkraut, olives, and more, and Kurlansky, an award-winning food writer, conveys how they have in turn molded civilization and eating habits the world over.

Salt is veined with colorful characters, from Li Bing, the Chinese bureaucrat who built the world's first dam in 250 BC, to Pattillo Higgins and Anthony Lucas who, ignoring the advice of geologists, drilled an east Texas salt dome in 1901 and discovered an oil reserve so large it gave birth to the age of petroleum. From the salt towns of Cheshire in England to the celebrated salt mine on Avery Island in Louisiana; from the remotest islands in the Caribbean where roads are made of salt to rural Sichaun province, where the last home-made soya sauce is made, Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of history, a multi-layered masterpiece that blends economic, scientific, political, religious, and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.

作者简介

马克-库兰斯基（Mark Kurlansky）因其畅销书《鳕鱼》 以及《巴斯克世界史》（均由 Walker & Company 出版）而为读者所熟知。《盐的世界史》是这两本书的结尾，讲述了一种不起眼但无处不在的物质与人类历史密不可分的故事。

Mark Kurlansky is well-known to readers through his popular books Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, and, more recently, The Basque History of the World (both published by Walker & Company.). Salt is an appropriate bookend to these books: the story of a humble but ubiquitous substance inextricably interwoven with the history of mankind.