Rating: 
Summary: No Victim Nation
Review: This is a fascinating, readable account of food related corporations doing what they are rewarded to do: make a profit while keeping prices low. When is the last time consumers said "I'll pay more" or shareholders said "I'll take less" so that employees can afford decent food and healthcare, land isn't polluted or pillaged, small businesses and local jobs are maintained, etc.? The note-worthy part is that corporations operate with limited consequences for using detrimental means of accomplishing their goals: low wages, environmental damage, health hazards, etc. And it is probably no different in any other industry. The author implies that socialism is the answer. But this is exactly where freedom and democracy come into play. Vote with your wallet. Don't vote for candidates who disregard the public's welfare. Corporations have not foisted these practices upon the public; the public has allowed them. The question is whether the public is ready to personally and literally pay the price.
Rating: 
Summary: VERY MISLEADING
Review: This book was not written by an objective journalist. Schlosser is about as left-wing as one can get. I purchased this book hoping to learn about the fast-food industry and it's practices, not to be repeatedly subjected to one man's liberal opinion. Save your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent investigative journalism
Review: Eric Scholsser has done an excellent job with "Fast Food Nation". He is a wonderful story-teller and backs up his words with an enormous amount of facts. This is a disturbing book and a must-read!
Rating:
Summary: Nothing less than a life changing book
Review: I think the power of a book like this is measured on how it affects its readers. On that score, Fast Food Nation is one of the most powerful books on its genre in our times. I personally know two people who read this book and became vegatarians. Granted, they didn't eat a lot of meat to begin with, but this pushed them over to the veggie side.Myself, I was good for 3-4 burgers a month. In the six months since I read this, I've had maybe two. I can't imagine anyone reading this and not being affected in some way. This type of literature can often degenerate into empty polemic, but that's not the case here. Enough data and undesputable facts are provided, yet plenty of the human side of the issues are there as well. The critique of the fast food industry is so broad that one simply doesn't need to be an animal rights activist (I'm not) or a food purist (I'm not that either) or a health fanatic (not me either) to be affected. Schlosser presents his case on economic, social, and urban landscape grounds as well. (That's basically where he got me.) And the chapter on the slaughter house is going to cause the hard core carnivore to cringe. Read it, and tell a friend to read it too.
Rating:
Summary: The numbers speak
Review: I have taken a few minutes to go throught the reviews. For every 10 reviews listed, 9 are positive and 1 or sometimes 2 are negative. It seems that most folks reviewing think this book has more positives than negatives. Naturally, people who DONT like something will tend to not take the time to write. The negative reviews seem to be more emotional and empty than they claim the book is. Although Schlosser does ramble a bit, I think this is a must read for everyone. Yet another view of corporate America at work. To the harshest critics, assuming say 3/4 of the info in this book is incorrect, its still bad news for all of us. The big question is: Why is it OK for us to sell people products that are not good for them? Who ever said that for the sake of making a profit, its OK to do almost anything? We can be pretty darn self centered can't we? I think if any book can make you ask these questions and think about it, the book was worth reading. These questions seem to me at least, the root of our world problems. Good job Eric!
Rating:
Summary: Touches on many subjects
Review: The main take away is that local optimisation (of profits by the food industry) leads to a sub-par global optimisation (for society as a whole): 1. In their strive to squeeze out as much profit as possible, the fast food chains and their suppliers set up highly efficient processes that employ minimum wage employees and produce disastrous quality food
2. The end consumer is unable to differentiate the fast food from the quality food
3. The high quality food industry, which employs highly paid, trained and well-taken-care-of employees goes bust
4. Thus creating a food industry which only produces bad food and a poorly paid and badly educated workforce thus wiping out what the French call the "artisanat" or artisans leaving only a vast wasteland. What the book doesn't discuss is 1. The absence of proper culinary education in the US (arguably shaped by the omnipresence of the fast food chains (and their possible influence on the absence of government sponsored educational programs?)
2. The possibility for each individual to refuse to eat junk
3. A comparative examination of the situation in other countries I very much enjoyed the book, but it is somewhat too journalistic in the sense that it descriptive rather than analytical. I would have liked a deeper academic/formal discussion of these moral hazard issues. An interesting analogy to the problematic of local/global optimisation would be the automotive industry's optimisation of profits in disregard of the global sub-optimisation related to pollution and global warming and in a broader sense a partial failure of the (US?) democratic system to remedy these problems because of the influence of private entities. This is the crux of the problematic. Hope this helps.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling view of the direction of America
Review: Eric Schlosser lays out, in plain detail, how the fast food culture is bludgeoning the American way of life. The drive for efficiency and throughput is homogenizing American city and townscapes to the delight of corporation stockholders and Wall Street. Independent businesses, ranchers, farmers and growers are strong-armed to conform, or fade away and laws ignored or passed by bribed government officials do little to resist the mass movement. Consumers provide the demand, and they are the only ones who can cut it off. More than a wake-up call, Fast Food Nation displays the history, progress, and inextricable decline of the independent businessperson. Contribute your intellect to society and consider how your visit to a fast food trough (if you ever do again) is affecting your world. Do you like what you see? Reading this book should change your life.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: This book is a Must Read! It takes you into the slaughterhouses and makes you want to write your congressman about OSHA, USDA, FDA and so on. Eric Scholosser also made note of all his findings so that the reader knows he's just not attacking any one particlular political party or business. This book makes you want to have congress impose VERY strict standards on the food we consume. Can you believe, it is easier to recall a defective toy or tire than it is to recall meat? Something has got to change. Scholosser also talks about the administrations that fail to protect consumers by not implementing and providing funds to agencies that regulate and enforce standards upon slaughterhouses. It's shameful & Disgusting.
Rating:
Summary: Going vegetarian? Read this!
Review: My English class read the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser for an assignment. This best-seller traces the evolution of fast food, its corrupt business practices, and its cultural influences. A large part of the book discusses how workers in the chain of supply are treated. Schlosser gives examples of ranchers forced to sell their cattle with nearly no profit, the immigrants who slaughter the animals for little pay and no job security, and the exploited teenagers who sell the final product. Another big topic of the book focuses on the workings of huge corporations like IBP (Iowa Beef Producers) and ConAgra foods, which are the largest suppliers to fast food chains. It reveals their political activities such as lobbying to keep the government out of food safety inspections and for a lower minimum wage. Other than ending with an epilogue about mad cow disease, the book mentions little about animals (Schlosser does make an incorrect reference to "humane" slaughter in an earlier chapter, though). This fact makes the case against meat production even stronger; those uninterested (or even opposed) to animal rights will find it unsettlingly hard to ignore so many human rights violations within the industry. When first beginning to read this book in my English class, I tried to explain how slaughterhouses were some of the most dangerous workplaces in the world, but most of my classmates did not believe me. By the end of the book, they were all upset about the almost non-existent safety standards. Fast Food Nation makes vegetarianism more appealing and really backs the claim that it is the healthiest and most all-around responsible diet by exposing how unethically the big food corporations deal with everything, not just their cattle. --Reviewed by Rachel Crowley
Rating:
Summary: Extensive, comprehensive, enlightening - A must read!
Review: WOW - this book is a very in-depth look at how the fast food industry has impacted the world. Eric Schlosser's attention to detail is unrelenting, as evidenced by the more than 60 pages of source notes. He leaves no doubt about where the information presented comes from, and makes a compelling presentation about how big business affects our society. If you ever had any doubts about the influence of corporations on America and the world, read this book - and prepare to be moved to action to stop the corporatization of the world by big businesses whose interests run counter to the better interests of the people who make them rich.
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