Wars have been fought over salt and, while salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia, they have also inspired revolution - Gandhi's salt march in 1930 began the overthrow of British rule in India.

**DISCOVER THE VIRAL SENSATION**

An indispensable yet illuminating history of the world, told through its most commonly mined, traded and consumed product: Salt

Homer called it a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. Salt has shaped civilisation from the beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of mankind. Wars have been fought over salt and, while salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia, they have also inspired revolution - Gandhi's salt march in 1930 was a pivotal act in his campaign to overthrow British rule in India.

From the rural Sichuan province where the last home-made soy sauce is produced, to the Cheshire brine springs that supplied salt around the globe, Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of world history, a multi-layered masterpiece that blends political, commercial, scientific, religious and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.

'Refreshing and invigorating, full of fascinating facts' Independent on Sunday

'History, reportage, travel writing, wisdom and recipes - entertaining and enlightening... The richness of Kurlansky's book would be hard to exaggerate' Sunday Times

'An entertainingly anecdotal and lovingly partisan history.' Independent. Homer called salt a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. As Mark Kurlanksy so brilliantly relates in his world-encompassing new book, salt has shaped civilization from the beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of mankind. So valuable that it has often served as currency (and still does in places today), salt inspired the earliest trade routes across unknown oceans and the remotest deserts...