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| Fast Food Nation | 
 enlarge | Author: Eric Schlosser
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $1.49
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (1409 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1622
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0060838582
Dewey Decimal Number: 394.10973
EAN: 9780060838584
ASIN: 0060838582
Publication Date: July 1, 2005
Release Date: July 5, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 One Fast Food National Under God ! ? September 6, 2008
The author offers reader a book behind the fast food industry which mushrooms around the county with their joints which the majority of working class rely on for their quick meals.
His research on the growers, suppliers, processors, laborers, politics and health issue behind the smiling teenager order takers leads reader to the composition of the hamburger in blood, tears and sweat from thousands of cattle, handled by the chain of workers before going to your mouth. It also makes you wonder who is eating the steaks and leaving the "residue of fats, noses, ears, trims" grounded into a mixture enhanced with artificial favor - a virtue"100% beef".
Does fast food industry cost you an arm and a leg? By eating the cheap fast food, we may pay a dear price for healthcare later!
This book illustrates the Tao of food: good and bad, healthy and junk, natural and artificial, slow and fast, traditional and modern, real and illusion.
Who program the population in acting "the allegiance to the flag of fast food industry, one fast food nation under God with franchises around 50 states in offering cheap hamburgers and freedom fries for all"?
Corporatism at the worst August 12, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
In Eric Schlosser's first devastating book on the malpractices of the fast food industry, he pieces together history, facts, and numerous sources to reveal some disturbing truths about their nature.
Fast Food Nation is less an expose` on how unhealthy junk food is than a look into the operations of the food industry, specifically McDonalds. The book is divided into two sections: the first, "The American Way," is concerned primarily with the growth and development of the fast food chains, beginning around the 40s in southern California and soon burgeoning into multiple restaurants across the US. Schlosser details the rise of the Speedee Service System, advertising techniques the emphasis on conformity by the chains, and their consolidation of power. The next section, "Meat and Potatoes," details various specifics about the machinations of the incredibly powerful fast food corporations. To the terrible conditions of workers in filthy (and dangerous) slaughterhouses, the employment of thousands of illegal immigrants in these buildings throughout the Midwest, and the diehard attempts by the corporations against possibilities of lawsuits by these workers after receiving any number of injuries. The companies further fight against the right to unionize.
While Schlosser doesn't focus on the naturally unhealthy nature of fast food, he does describe the abundant diseases that can be found in the meat, such as E. coli O157:H7. The causes for these pathogens are the environments in the above-mentioned slaughterhouses, particularly the fact that feces often finds its way into the processed animals, or sick cattle are used along with healthy ones. Near the end of the book, fast food's spread around the globe and its effects on the societies of foreign nations are described. This and much more are brought up and examined by the determined author.
As for the writing style, Schlosser has a great ability for scene setting, as in the first pages of the introduction where he describes the Cheyenne Mountain base, where it feels like it's some sort of sci-fi novel. This book never really drags, although in the epilogue his writing abruptly seems to become more lackluster. Other than that and repeating E. coli O157:H7 one too many times, this book can be a useful weapon against the fast food empire. I still plan to eat McDonalds, but I'll definitely be thinking more when I bite into one of their products.
A note: many people will likely believe this book to be biased against the Republican party. But the fact is that recently the conservatives have all to often aided the corporations in their power grabs and take over of rivals. The Republicans are always accusing the Democrats of striking down competition in the free market, but it should be blatantly obvious that by buying off their other powerful competitors the corporations suppress any "free market" activity.
The hard truth. August 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you eat fast food, you need to read this book to understand what you're really putting into your body. Even if you don't eat fast food, this is an important read for the sake of understanding how the fast food industry has changed what we are as a country, and what we're becoming. It is a remarkable reality check.
And you thought McDonalds was bad for you! August 2, 2008
You might think you know what this guy has to say, but rest assured that this book as full of surprises! It is also very interesting in a way that makes you read deep into the night.
The book doesn't only cover what fast food is doing to our health and families, but also at how it is changing industries across the world. It contains a shocking section on how minorities are being exploited, especially in the US meat industry.
It becomes more and more obvious how much research must have gone into the book, and it is refreshing, and maybe a little ironic, to see a product into which a lot of care and time was invested, especially in this fast-everything culture.
I recommend this book wholeheartedly, because it is interesting, well-researched, well-written, relevant and good value for money.
You'll never look at McDonalds the same way!
 What! It's about policies, not food? July 31, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I took a long time to finish reading this book. As a nutrition major in college, I really wanted to know what was wrong with fast food from an objective point of view. As expected, the book takes you through many turns that will surprise you. Many facets of the fast food industry started off in a humble, quiet sort of way. But when growth started coming, at exponential levels, fast food wasn't really about food any longer. It was just about public policy and business. McDonald's started the entire idea about marketing products to kids. Why? McDonald's and Disney were good friends. And did you know that Subway's main goal is to open as many chains across the globe as they possibly can?
I truly learned a lot of things about the fast food industry, the most poignant probably being the hidden events in the meat processing plants, with many illegal workers getting injured and even killed, and not being accounted for simply because they were never on the radar.
My hangup with the book though, is that it is a little too heavy on the statistical figures. It just made the book a little choppy and difficult to read much of in one sitting; besides, statistical figures are constantly changing, so by now even those figures reported are probably out of date.
But I have to say how glad I am for reading this book. It surely gives one a better reason to avoid fast food than simply avoiding carbs and fat.
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