Other than that it tastes delicious with butter, what do you know about the knobbily-armoured, scarlet creature staring back at you from your fancy dinner plate? Food writer Elisabeth Townsend here charts the global rise of the lobster as delicacy. Part of the Edible Series, Lobster: A Global History explores the use and consumption of the lobster from poor man’s staple to cultural icon. From coastal fishing in the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution and modern times, Townsend describes the social history of the consumption of lobsters around the world. As well, the book includes beautiful images of rarely seen lobsters and both old and contemporary lobster recipes. Whether you want to liberate lobsters from their supermarket tanks or crack open their claws, this is an essential read, describing the human connection to the lobster from his ocean home to the dinner table.

Contributors. -- Preface. -- Introduction, Anatomy, and Life History, J.R. Factor. -- Taxonomy and Evolution, A.B. Williams. -- Larval and Postlarval Ecology, G.P. Ennis. -- Postlarval, Juvenile, Adolescent, and Adult Ecology, P. Lawton and K.L. Lavalli. -- Fishery Regulations and Methods, R.J. Miller. -- Populations, Fisheries, and Management, M.J. Fogarty. -- Interface of Ecology, Behavior, and Fisheries, J.S. Cobb. -- Aquaculture, D.E. Aiken and S.L. Waddy. -- Reproduction and Embryonic Development, P. Talbot and Simone Helluy. -- Control of Growth and Reproduction, S.L. Waddy, D.E. Aiken, and D.P.V. de Kleijn. -- Neurobiology and Neuroendocrinology, B. Beltz. -- Muscles and Their Innervation, C.K. Govind. -- Behavior and Sensory Biology, J. Atema and R. Voigt. -- The Feeding Appendages, K.L. Lavalli and J.R. Factor. -- The Digestive system, J.R. Factor. -- Digestive Physiology and Nutrition, D.E. Conklin. -- Circulation, the Blood, and Disease, G.G. Martin and J.E. Hose. -- The Phy ...

“A thorough and engaging history of Maine’s rocky coast and its tough-minded people.”—Boston Herald “[A] well-researched and well-written cultural and ecological history of stubborn perseverance.”—USA Today For more than four hundred years the people of coastal Maine have clung to their rocky, wind-swept lands, resisting outsiders’ attempts to control them while harvesting the astonishing bounty of the Gulf of Maine. Today’s independent, self-sufficient lobstermen belong to the communities imbued with a European sense of ties between land and people, but threatened by the forces of homogenization spreading up the eastern seaboard. In the tradition of William Warner’s Beautiful Swimmers, veteran journalist Colin Woodard (author of American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good) traces the history of the rugged fishing communities that dot the coast of Maine and the prized crustacean that has long provided their livelihood. Through forgotten wars and rebellions, and with a deep tradition of resistance to interference by people “from away,” Maine’s lobstermen have defended an earlier vision of America while defying the “tragedy of the commons”—the notion that people always overexploit their shared property. Instead, these icons of American individualism represent a rare example of true communal values and collaboration through grit, courage, and hard-won wisdom.