Author at the Library: "American Tuna: The Rise and Fall of an Improbable Food," with Andrew F. Smith, a writer and lecturer on food and culinary history.

In a lively account of the American tuna industry's fortunes and misfortunes over the past century, the celebrated food writer and scholar relates how tuna went from being sold primarily as a fertilizer to becoming the most commonly consumed fish in the country. The so-called "chicken of the sea" is both the subject and the backdrop for other facets of American history: U.S. foreign policy, immigration and environmental politics, and American dietary trends.