Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

Mark Kurlanksy is an American journalist and author with a long and varied writing career, beginning with a degree in Theater from Butler University and working as a playwright in New York City. He wrote several off-Broadway plays and worked in a variety of jobs, including pastry chef, dockworker, and commercial fisherman. 

In the late 1970s he changed his writing focus to journalism and from 1976 to 1991 he worked as a foreign correspondent for The International Herald Tribune, The Chicago Tribune, The Miami Herald, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He published his first book, A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny, in 1992. 

Kurlansky is highly regarded for his carefully researched topics, accessible and engaging prose, and the narrative quality he brings to history. His work, primarily in the field of microhistory, is heavily inspired by his varied jobs. For instance, he has returned to the topics of fishermen and food writing on several occasions, including The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America’s Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town (2008), World Without Fish (2011), Salt: A World History (2002), and his most recent publication The Core of an Onion (2023).