After rice, corn, and wheat--the three staples of, respectively, East Asia, the Americas, and Eurasia--the olive is the foodstuff most closely bound to history, shaping the course of nations and empires. Mort Rosenblum, the author of the lively Secret Life of the Seine and many other books, gives us a wide-angle, altogether engrossing account of the olive's life and natural history, studding his narrative with conversations with farmers all around the Mediterranean. Rosenblum predicts an upsurge in olive cultivation in the United States as more and more people become aware of the fruit's many healthful qualities. If you have the urge to take up farming, read this fine book--you may be moved to put in some olive trees and try your luck.


From Publishers Weekly
"Olives," writes Rosenblum (The Secret Life of the Seine), "have oiled the wheels of civilization since Jericho built walls and ancient Greece was morning news." In this delightful and comprehensive account, he tells us about his travels throughout the Mediterranean countries, where the fruit is grown, in search of the olive's history and horticulture. What sparked his interest were some ancient half-dead olive trees on his property in Provence that he wanted to restore to health. The more he learned, the more fascinated he became and now, a connoisseur, he can discriminate between the nuances of different fruits and their oils, some of which are so delicious that they are drunk like liqueurs. Rosenblum's account is rich in details of the characters of growers he met in communities throughout the Mediterranean, where much of their joys and sorrows center around the crops. He learned about the care and nurture of the trees, discovered that the most desirable oils of Crete are now purchased in bulk by foreign companies who mix it with others, making the pure product difficult to find anywhere but in the communities where the trees are cultivated; and he explores the national and international politics that affect the trade. A paean to the olive tree, this is an enchanting excursion. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
To many Americans, as Rosenblum notes, an olive "is no more than a humble lump at the bottom of a martini," but to the portion of the world surrounding the Mediterranean, it symbolizes everything that is "happy and holy." When Rosenblum bought a farm in Provence and became the owner of 150 ramshackle olive trees, he soon came under the noble fruit's spell and set out to learn more about its history. This book is the result of that search, and like John McPhee on just about anything, it proves that there are stories everywhere if you just look hard enough. Rosenblum follows the olive from France through Spain, Italy, Israel, Greece, and the U.S., talking to growers, musing on the properties of good oil, sharing recipes and frustrations, and concluding, with friend and fellow writer Willis Barnstone, that the "olive is to the Mediterranean what the camel is to the desert. Every tree is an individual, anarchic, a struggling survivor." A remarkably fascinating tale of olives and civilization. Bill Ott


From Kirkus Reviews
Genial, offbeat feature writing from the AP correspondent who observed The Secret Life of the Seine (1994) from his own houseboat; now he's got five acres in Provence overgrown with olive trees, and he's smitten with the cult of the olive. The magic, surprisingly, can be catching. A fully engaged curiosity enhances the reach of Rosenblum's repertoire, from the turf of the cultivators to the politics of commerce--and from Kalamata, where he samples some of the best oil of his life (though there's no place on earth like the olive souk in Marrakesh), to California, where olive trees are moving in on the vineyards. Wherever he goes on assignment, Rosenblum finds ``brothers in the olive,'' ready to take up the great debate on the best way to press oil. With a little stroking, they might offer a visiting aficionado a taste from their own stock: ``Gold,'' one connoisseur calls the bottle he parts with reluctantly (it crashes to the floor unsampled during Rosenblum's bag check at the airport). The assaults of nature and the uncertainty of the marketplace, fodder for kibitzers all around the Mediterranean, mean that most members of the olive-growing fraternity have to have day jobs. (Private holdings have anyhow been diluted below subsistence level over the millennia by cumulative adherence to the tradition of dividing a man's olive trees among his surviving sons.) In Italy, bulk-buyers misrepresent superior oils from elsewhere as their own and compound the fraud by adulterating them; in Israel, memorably, a Jew and an Arab go into business together exporting olives in fitting response to the accelerating peace; in Croatia, where nobody's tending the trees these days, refugee children play war games using the abandoned olives for ammunition. The world as seen through the window of an idiosyncratic passion, rendered by a raffish pro. (line drawings) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
Mort Rosenblum brings poetry, history, humor, and passion to the noble olive. -Martha Stewart

Filled with history, lore, scandal, gossip, politics, recipes, health tips and even Mafia intrigue, Olives is as perceptive as it is passionate. -Patricia Wells, author of Bistro Cooking

A dazzling book of olive mania. -Nancy McKeon, The Washington Post Book World

Delicious . . . A blend of first-rate travel writing and first-rate food writing. -Michael Pakenham, The Baltimore Sun



Review
Mort Rosenblum brings poetry, history, humor, and passion to the noble olive. -Martha Stewart

Filled with history, lore, scandal, gossip, politics, recipes, health tips and even Mafia intrigue, Olives is as perceptive as it is passionate. -Patricia Wells, author of Bistro Cooking

A dazzling book of olive mania. -Nancy McKeon, The Washington Post Book World

Delicious . . . A blend of first-rate travel writing and first-rate food writing. -Michael Pakenham, The Baltimore Sun



Michael Pakenham, The Baltimore Sun
Delicious . . . A blend of first-rate travel writing and first-rate food writing.


Nancy McKeon, The Washington Post Book World
A dazzling book of olive mania.


Patricia Wells, author of Bistro Cooking
Filled with history, lore, scandal, gossip, politics, recipes, health tips and even Mafia intrigue, Olives is as perceptive as it is passionate.


Review
Mort Rosenblum brings poetry, history, humor, and passion to the noble olive. -Martha Stewart

Filled with history, lore, scandal, gossip, politics, recipes, health tips and even Mafia intrigue, Olives is as perceptive as it is passionate. -Patricia Wells, author of Bistro Cooking

A dazzling book of olive mania. -Nancy McKeon, The Washington Post Book World

Delicious . . . A blend of first-rate travel writing and first-rate food writing. -Michael Pakenham, The Baltimore Sun



Book Description
Winner of the James Beard Award

Until one stops to notice, an olive is only a lowly lump at the bottom of a martini. But not only does a history of olives traverse climates and cultures, it also reveals fascinating differences in processing, production, and personalities. Aficionados of the noble little fruit expect miracles from it as a matter of course. In 1986, Mort Rosenblum bought a small farm in Provence and acquired 150 neglected olive trees that were old when the Sun King ruled France. He brought them back to life and became obsessed with olives, their cultivation, and their role in international commerce.



About the Author
Mort Rosenblum is a special correspondent to the Associated Press and the author of Who Stole the News? and The Secret Life of the Seine. He lives in Provence.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Until one stops to notice, an olive is only a lowly lump at the bottom of a martini. But not only does a history of olives traverse climates and cultures, it also reveals fascinating differences in processing, production, and personalities. Aficionados of the noble little fruit expect miracles from it as a matter of course. In 1986, Mort Rosenblum bought a small farm in Provence and acquired 150 neglected olive trees that were old when the Sun King ruled France. He brought them back to life and became obsessed with olives, their cultivation, and their role in international commerce.

FROM THE CRITICS

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt - New York Times

This is an edifying book. Pit by pit, his savory details add up.

Publishers Weekly

'Olives,' writes Rosenblum (The Secret Life of the Seine), 'have oiled the wheels of civilization since Jericho built walls and ancient Greece was morning news.' In this delightful and comprehensive account, he tells us about his travels throughout the Mediterranean countries, where the fruit is grown, in search of the olive's history and horticulture. What sparked his interest were some ancient half-dead olive trees on his property in Provence that he wanted to restore to health. The more he learned, the more fascinated he became and now, a connoisseur, he can discriminate between the nuances of different fruits and their oils, some of which are so delicious that they are drunk like liqueurs. Rosenblum's account is rich in details of the characters of growers he met in communities throughout the Mediterranean, where much of their joys and sorrows center around the crops. He learned about the care and nurture of the trees, discovered that the most desirable oils of Crete are now purchased in bulk by foreign companies who mix it with others, making the pure product difficult to find anywhere but in the communities where the trees are cultivated; and he explores the national and international politics that affect the trade. A paean to the olive tree, this is an enchanting excursion.

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

This is an edifying book. Pit by pit, his savory details add up. -- The New York Times

Kirkus Reviews

Genial, offbeat feature writing from the AP correspondent who observed The Secret Life of the Seine from his own houseboat; now he's got five acres in Provence overgrown with olive trees, and he's smitten with the cult of the olive. The magic, surprisingly, can be catching. A fully engaged curiosity enhances the reach of Rosenblum's repertoire, from the turf of the cultivators to the politics of commerce—and from Kalamata, where he samples some of the best oil of his life (though there's no place on earth like the olive souk in Marrakesh), to California, where olive trees are moving in on the vineyards. Wherever he goes on assignment, Rosenblum finds 'brothers in the olive,' ready to take up the great debate on the best way to press oil. With a little stroking, they might offer a visiting aficionado a taste from their own stock: 'Gold,' one connoisseur calls the bottle he parts with reluctantly (it crashes to the floor unsampled during Rosenblum's bag check at the airport). The assaults of nature and the uncertainty of the marketplace, fodder for kibitzers all around the Mediterranean, mean that most members of the olive-growing fraternity have to have day jobs. (Private holdings have anyhow been diluted below subsistence level over the millennia by cumulative adherence to the tradition of dividing a man's olive trees among his surviving sons.) In Italy, bulk-buyers misrepresent superior oils from elsewhere as their own and compound the fraud by adulterating them; in Israel, memorably, a Jew and an Arab go into business together exporting olives in fitting response to the accelerating peace; in Croatia, where nobody's tending the trees these days, refugee children playwar games using the abandoned olives for ammunition. The world as seen through the window of an idiosyncratic passion, rendered by a raffish pro.

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