[stonetools]

Haven't upated in a while, so:

Recently read "Four Fish" AMZ, BN

Very good read on an important topic.The issue is : The wild fish population can't sustain the growing human ap[petite for fish. The best answer is : aquaculture ( fish farming). How do we do that , and which fish do we pick? Meanwhile, the clock is ticking as the wild populations of the fishes we like are collapsing due to overfishing.

PUBLISHERS BLURB:

Our relationship with the ocean is undergoing a profound transformation. Just three decades ago nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild. Today rampant overfishing and an unprecedented biotech revolution have brought us to a point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex and confusing marketplace. We stand at the edge of a cataclysm; there is a distinct possibility that our children’s children will never eat a wild fish that has swum freely in the sea.
In Four Fish, award-winning writer and lifelong fisherman Paul Greenberg takes us on a culinary journey, exploring the history of the fish that dominate our menus—salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna—and investigating where each stands at this critical moment in time.

I also read "Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World" by Dan Koreppel . Very good history of the humble fruit that we take for granted, but whichj isnowbeing threated by an intractible disease that might wipe out the banana as we know it. That's not hyperbole: the same disease wiped out an earlier variety of banana, which was replaced by the current variety, which was initially resistant to the disease.Now its not resistant any more. This, and much else in the istory of the banna is covered in this entertaining short history.
PUBLISHERS BLURB:

The world's most humble fruit has caused inordinate damage to nature and man, and Popular Science journalist Koeppel (To See Every Bird on Earth) embarks on an intelligent, chock-a-block sifting through the havoc. Seedless, sexless bananas evolved from a wild inedible fruit first cultivated in Southeast Asia, and was probably the apple that got Adam and Eve in trouble in the Garden of Eden. From there the fruit traveled to Africa and across the Pacific, arriving on U.S. shores probably with the Europeans in the 15th century. However, the history of the banana turned sinister as American businessmen caught on to the marketability of this popular, highly perishable fruit then grown in Jamaica. Thanks to the building of the railroad through Costa Rica by the turn of the century, the United Fruit company flourished in Central America, its tentacles extending into all facets of government and industry, toppling banana republics and igniting labor wars. Meanwhile, the Gros Michel variety was annihilated by a fungus called Panama disease (Sigatoka), which today threatens the favored Cavendish, as Koeppel sounds the alarm, shuttling to genetics-engineering labs from Honduras to Belgium. His sage, informative study poses the question fairly whether it's time for consumers to reverse a century of strife and exploitation epitomized by the purchase of one banana.

AMZ

In keeping with my interest in food related history, I will most likely move on to "A history ofthe World in 6 glasses Next". I did take a break from obsessing about food to read
" Copperheads : The Rise and Fall of Lincoln's Opponents in the North", by Jennifer L. Weber. AMZ

Interesting account of a little-known corner of Civil War History- the domestic political opposition to Lincoln in the North. Itb really suprised me that even as late as summer 1864, they could have contemplated defeating Lincoln in the presidential election that year.

Product Description
If Civil War battlefields saw vast carnage, the Northern home-front was itself far from tranquil. Fierce political debates set communities on edge, spurred secret plots against the Union, and triggered widespread violence, such as the New York City draft riots. And at the heart of all this turmoil stood Northern anti-war Democrats, nicknamed "Copperheads."
Now, Jennifer L. Weber offers the first full-length portrait of this powerful faction to appear in almost half a century. Weber reveals how the Copperheads came perilously close to defeating Lincoln and ending the war in the South's favor. Indeed, by the summer of 1864, they had grown so strong that Lincoln himself thought his defeat was "exceedingly likely." Passionate defenders of civil liberties and states' rights--and often virulent racists--the Copperheads deplored Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, his liberal interpretation of the Constitution, and, most vehemently, his moves toward emancipation. Weber reveals how the battle over these issues grew so heated, particularly in the Midwest, that Northerners feared their neighbors would destroy their livestock, burn their homes, even kill them. Indeed, some Copperheads went so far as to conspire with Confederate forces and plan armed insurrections, including an attempt to launch an uprising during the Democratic convention in Chicago. Finally, Weber illuminates the role of Union soldiers, who, furious at Copperhead attacks on the war effort, moved firmly behind Lincoln. The soldiers' support for the embattled president kept him alive politically in his darkest times, and their victories on the battlefield secured his re-election.
Disgraced after the war, the Copperheads melted into the shadows of history. Here, Jennifer L. Weber illuminates their dramatic story. Packed with sharp observation and fresh interpretations, Copperheads is a gripping account of the fierce dissent that Lincoln called "the fire in the rear."

Anyway, that's the update. I'll try to check in more often. Anybody read any other good nonfiction lately?