Bush Reads Kurlansky

According to a Press Release by Penguin Group (via Yahoo Finance), President George W. Bush is going to be reading a book by Mark Kurlansky called Salt: A World History.

Here you have it:

NEW YORK, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, August 16th the White House released President Bush's summer vacation reading list. Two of the three nonfiction titles were New York Times bestselling Penguin trade paperbacks: THE GREAT INFLUENZA: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry and SALT: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

The Press Release goes into some background regarding Mark Kurlansky, an outspoken supporter of the Basque right to self determination:

In SALT: A World History Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Cod: A Biography of a Fish That Changed the World and The Basque History of the World reintroduces readers to the importance of salt in both the ancient and modern world. Salt-the only rock we eat-has played a surprising part in shaping the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Kurlansky presents a vivid social history blending human stories with economic, commercial, political, scientific, religious, and culinary histories.

Mark Kurlansky is the recipient of the 1998 James Beard Award for Food Writing for Cod: A Biography of a Fish That Changed That Changed the World. A respected journalist, he has covered politics and civil unrest in Haiti and he is a frequent contributor to The International Herald Tribune and Audubon. He writes a regular column about food history for Food & Wine.

Hopefully this will lead Mr. Bush to read more books by Mark Kurlansky, including the afore mentioned The Basque History of the World.

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