What gave Christopher Columbus the confidence in 1492 to set out across the Atlantic Ocean? Fish on Friday tells the story of the discovery of America as a product of the long sweep of history: the spread of Christianity and the radical cultural changes it brought to Europe, the interaction of economic necessity with a changing climate, and generations of unknown fishermen who explored the North Atlantic in the centuries before Columbus. A fascinating and multifaceted book, Fish on Friday will intrigue everyone who wonders how the vast forces of climate, culture, and technology conspire to create the history we know.
Pleas note that this paperback is a print-on-demand reprint. The pixelated cover image displayed on our website unfortunately represents the print quality of the finished product. The internal images are of proper resolution, however.
Brian Fagan is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A former Guggenheim Fellow, he has written many internationally acclaimed popular books about archaeology, including The Little Ice Age, Floods, Famines, and Emperors, and The Long Summer. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.
"Enthralling history of one of our basic foods."
– Anne Willan
"Delightful [...] The author's intelligence, erudition, and sheer enthusiasm for his subject shine through on every page."
– William Chester Jordan
"Brian Fagan weaves a detective story of Friday fish-eating, climate change, and ship design to guess who beat Columbus to the New World."
– Jared Diamond