The Philosopher Fish Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire

by Carey, Richard Adams

• ISBN13: 9781582431734
• ISBN10: 1582431736
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-02-09
• Publisher: Counterpoint

Summary

A captivating chronicle of a fast-disappearing fish--and of the people whose lives and livelihoods depend on it.

Since the days of the Persian Empire, caviar has meant status, wealth, prestige, and sex appeal. Today it sells for up to $100 an ounce, and aficionados will go to extraordinary lengths to get their fill of it. That's just the problem.

Here, Carey immerses himself in the world of sturgeon, the fish that lays these golden eggs. Ancient, shrouded in mystery, inexplicable in several of its behaviors, the sturgeon has a fascinating biologic past--and a very uncertain future. Sturgeon populations worldwide have declined 70% in the last 20 years, most drastically in the Caspian Sea, and the beluga sturgeon, producer of the most coveted caviar, is an endangered species.

Author Biography

Richard Adams Carey is the author of Against the Tide: The Fate of the New England Fisherman, a nonfiction chronicle of the 1995-96 fishing season in the lives of four Cape Cod commercial fishermen, among other works.

Table of Contents

Prologue	xi
The Hero Descending	1	(30)
The World Is Not Enough	31	(24)
Flavors of the Divine Horizon	55	(20)
The People of the Sturgeon	75	(20)
Situation Unpleasant	95	(26)
A City of Water	121	(24)
Poor Man's Lobster	145	(20)
Russian California	165	(18)
A Poetry of Place	183	(20)
The Iron in the Garden	203	(22)
Thieves World	225	(16)
The Blood of the Earth	241	(24)
A Capacity for Wonder	265	(20)
The Gilded Morsel	285	(16)
Epilogue	301	(2)
Acknowledgments	303	(4)
Bibliography	307	(14)
Index	321