Award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants-the oyster. For centuries New York was famous for this particular shellfish, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city"s life that the abundant bivalves were Gotham"s most celebrated export, a staple food for all classes, and a natural filtration system for the city"s congested waterways. Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight-along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos-this dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the seventeenth-century founding of New York to the death of its oyster beds and the rise of America"s environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan"s Gilded Age dining chambers. With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.