
The Big Oyster
History on the Half Shell
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $16.04
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
John H. Mayer
-
By:
-
Mark Kurlansky
Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants - the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled.
For centuries New York was famous for its oysters, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city’s economy, gastronomy, and ecology that the abundant bivalves were Gotham’s most celebrated export, a staple food for the wealthy, the poor, and tourists alike, and the primary natural defense against pollution for the city’s congested waterways.
Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight - along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos - this dynamic narrative sweeps listeners from the island hunting ground of the Lenape Indians to the death of the oyster beds and the rise of America’s environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan’s Gilded Age dining chambers. Kurlansky brings characters vividly to life while recounting dramatic incidents that changed the course of New York history.
Here are the stories behind Peter Stuyvesant’s peg leg and Robert Fulton’s “Folly”; the oyster merchant and pioneering African American leader Thomas Downing; the birth of the business lunch at Delmonico’s; early feminist Fanny Fern, one of the highest-paid newspaper writers in the city; even “Diamond” Jim Brady, who we discover was not the gourmand of popular legend.
With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.
©2006 Mark Kurlansky (P)2006 Books on TapeListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Kurlansky's history digresses all over the place, and sparkles." (Publishers Weekly)
"Kurlansky's real gift is that, in uncovering biological quirks and forgotten social customs, he makes the ordinary extraordinary." (Booklist)
“In his portrait of the once-famous oyster beds of New York Harbor, Kurlansky beautifully illustrates food’s ability to connect us deeply to our particular place in the world, and shows how our nourishment is so vitally tied to the health of the natural world.” (Alice Waters)
People who viewed this also viewed...
















So excellent .
A must read book. A treasure.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Lovely history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What made the experience of listening to The Big Oyster the most enjoyable?
The side stories were very enjoyable and you can tell in the writing that Kurlansky not only finds Oysters and New York city history interesting but he really dug in to unearth their shared experience.What did you like best about this story?
The subject matterAny additional comments?
I would only add that the narration could have been a bit more conversational. It is great overall but there are some small spots where it feels like your being read a textbook.One of Kerlansy's best
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Awesome Listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Ok, but not as good as his "Salt", or "Cod".
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you are in to history...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Big Oyster
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
History Excellence
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great Story!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
history of the oyster in America
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.