Bananas How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World
- 10 Mar 2022
- 9781838857875
- £10.99
- 240 pp
- 129×198mm
- 15 Dec 2022
- 9781838859763
- £8.79
- 240 pp
In a few words
A lively and insightful cultural history of the coveted yellow fruit, as well as a gripping narrative about the infamous rise and fall of the United Fruit Company
In a few words
A lively and insightful cultural history of the coveted yellow fruit, as well as a gripping narrative about the infamous rise and fall of the United Fruit Company
A gripping story of the ebbs and flows of US capitalism
[An] insightful history of the company . . . [A] witty, energetic narrative
A gripping story of the ebbs and flows of US capitalism
[An] insightful history of the company . . . [A] witty, energetic narrative
More about
the book
In this compelling history, Peter Chapman shows how the United Fruit Company took bananas from the jungles of Costa Rica to the halls of power in Washington, D.C., with not just clever marketing, but covert CIA operations, bloody coups and brutalised workforces. And how along the way they turned the banana into a blueprint for a new model of unfettered global capitalism: one that serves corporate power at any cost.
More about
the book
In this compelling history, Peter Chapman shows how the United Fruit Company took bananas from the jungles of Costa Rica to the halls of power in Washington, D.C., with not just clever marketing, but covert CIA operations, bloody coups and brutalised workforces. And how along the way they turned the banana into a blueprint for a new model of unfettered global capitalism: one that serves corporate power at any cost.
A powerful example from the past . . . a century-long tale of plunder, bribery, corruption, labour abuse, death squads, military coups and war
Finely crafted . . . Chapman's broad-brush approach to history gives it a vigorous and entertaining narrative drive . . . Chapman's achievement is to make us realise what a long and complex moral journey even something as seemingly innocent as a banana has made to our fruit bowls
Mark Cocker
GuardianIf you only read a handful of non-fiction books this year, [Bananas] is among your recommended five portions
Engagingly told . . . Delightful cameos of Carmen Miranda, Andy Warhol and Evelyn Waugh . . . Best is Chapman’s account of the precarious ecology of the modern banana
A powerful example from the past . . . a century-long tale of plunder, bribery, corruption, labour abuse, death squads, military coups and war
Finely crafted . . . Chapman's broad-brush approach to history gives it a vigorous and entertaining narrative drive . . . Chapman's achievement is to make us realise what a long and complex moral journey even something as seemingly innocent as a banana has made to our fruit bowls
Mark Cocker
GuardianIf you only read a handful of non-fiction books this year, [Bananas] is among your recommended five portions
Engagingly told . . . Delightful cameos of Carmen Miranda, Andy Warhol and Evelyn Waugh . . . Best is Chapman’s account of the precarious ecology of the modern banana
