Details
Synopsis
In this delightful, learned, and somewhat freewheeling tour through history, John Reader focuses on the lowly plant, the potato--arguing that it has been central, on the periphery, or sometimes just there through a range of epochs up to modern times. He explores its role in civilizations as diverse as China, the Incas, and the French court, and finds many and diverse references to the tuber in records, histories, and popular lore. Of course, he discusses the complex causes and effects in mid-19th Century Ireland of the famous Potato Famine, and he ultimately convinces that from its origins in Peru to its modern day position as one of the top staples worldwide, the potato has been a crop of globalization and history.
| Size | | Length: | 315 pages | | Height: | 9.5 in | | Width: | 6.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 21.6 oz |
Industry Reviews
"More often than not [the potato] has inspired careful--but let's face it, dull--scholarship. Yet Reader's enthusiasm has made the old analyses more palatable....He explores [the Irish Potato Famine] sensitively, applying political, agronomic and social analysis to vivify the tragic years of 1845 to 1849."
(05/31/2009)
"Using the potato as guide, mantra, fetish and structuring device, John Reader serves up a potato-centric history of the world. And a delicious...dish it is."
(06/07/2009)
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