Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

What is meant by the claim that “All revolutions are to some degree about money” (93)? How does Cod highlight the relationships between economics and politics in history more broadly?

Analyze one of the figures featured in the text, such as Sam Lee, John Cabot, or Clarence Birdseye. How does Kurlansky depict this figure? What is his/her wider significance in the text?

According to the book’s subtitle, cod is “the fish that changed the world.” How does the author make this argument? What are the strengths and weaknesses of his claims?

Despite being primarily a historical text, Cod won an award for food writing from the James Beard Foundation—an organization of chefs and the culinary industry. What is the potential value that this book brings to the culinary industry? How might it relate to broader culinary trends, such as the “slow food” movement?

Part 3 makes an explicit argument for humanity’s place in the natural world and the subsequent duty to care for nature. How does Kurlansky demonstrate the connections between humans and the natural world in an economic, cultural, and/or social sense?

What, if anything, does the section of recipes contribute to the overall meaning or value of the book? What insights do recipes provide that other kinds of historical documentation do not?

Compare and contrast Cod with another one of Kurlansky’s books, such as The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America’s Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town (2008) or World Without Fish (2011). What key themes and ideas do the two texts share? How are they different or similar in their approaches to, and treatments of, these themes?

Discuss and analyze the ways the three major themes—the human impact on nature, abundance and the economy, and trade and nationalism—interact, influence, and/or complicate each other. What other key themes and ideas appear in the text?