Rating: 
Summary: McDonalds Anyone?
Review: I have never read anything more disgusting in my life! This book is filled with the horrbile truth behind slaughter houses and working conditions. I could not believe some of the things I read about the slaughter house. Blood covered floors, cow carcasses rotting on hooks, gross stuff like that! I haven't eaten fast food since i read this book, granted it has only been a month, but still. I oculd never go back into those places. It is nice to know that the FDA cares more about money then our health, why are they even around if they dont do their job? I think that this book takes a close look into what goes on behind closed doors, it is packed with gory details and interesting facts. I really recommend reading this book, but only if you have a strong stomach!
Rating:
Summary: An important read
Review: Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation is something that everyone should read. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the book is only relevant to those who live on McDonalds and Taco Bell. Much of what the book is about has to do with how the restaurant and francishing industry works, how "meat and potatoes" are produced and consumed in this country (and abroad) and about the impact that "food science" has had on what populates our dinner tables. As a result, the book is really that anyone who lives/eats in America should read. While encouraging others to read it, I also suggest that they do so with a critical and skeptical eye. The book is, at times, politically biased and - despite its litany of footnotes - misleading and most likely imperfect. At times, one feels like an eager student, reading a riveting sociological text; at other times, the feeling is one of annoyance, like reading a one-sided Mother Jones or National Review article. I found myself making notes inside the book so that I would not forget to mention them when I eventually wrote this review. That's the kind of reaction the book provokes. With that, let me dive into the major GOOD and BAD aspects of the book:
The GOOD:
(1) Very easy to read. It's like reading one long magazine article, but there are footnotes provided that help back up the claims made.
(2) Great history about the origins of the fast food industry.
(3) Good overview of the major food players (growers, processors, distributors) and how beef, poultry, and potatoes are processed.
(4) Riveting account of the experiences inside a slaughterhouse as well as the impact these places have on the cities they reside in and on the people who are employed at them. The BAD:
(1) Silly, useless commentary. For example, Schlosser visits a food science lab (Intl Flavors & Fragrances) and reports how the place looked like the "Willy Wonka factory" with bottles full of "long chemical names" that seemed like "magic potions". Judgements and portrayals like this make the book seem unbalanced and weak. When you have to resort to characitures, you're bottom fishing.
(2) Misleading statistics. Schlosser presents many startling
numbers culled from his research. Most of them seem accurate, but some are very misleading. For example, he says that in 1998 "more restaurant workers than police officers were murdered on the job". Okay, he wants us to believe that working at fast food restaurants is dangerous. But it's unfair and sophomoric to compare the numbers -- and not percentages -- when comparing FF workers to police officers killed. In short, the book is not just an neutral observation about the fast food industry and its effects. It is part fact, part interpretation (more fact than interpretation). And, as a result, it can come across as biased and is definitely misleading at times. Still, there is enough skeleton of fact and enough of an overview of the machine of the fast food industry to make this book not only a worthwhile read, but a mandatory one.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast Food, Fast Profits
Review: This is one of the best books I have read this year. It really was one of those books I couldn't stop reading and yet hated to finish. If only one tenth of what Schlosser says is true then the situation is scandalous. Unfortunately, with a republican president and a republican-controlled Congress getting big campaign contributions from the very people who are committing these crimes very little will be done. A powerful, and yet depressing, book. Read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbingly "One-Sided"
Review: This is an interesting and well-written book, which I gave up on after 100 or so pages and which is a waste of money. The author's point of view is simple and nothing gets in the way of it: The fast food industry is entirely evil both intentionally and by effect. To this author everything is black and white. I'm okay with authors writing opinion books, but this book misleadingly suggests it is a balanced coverage of the industry. In the guise of calm journalism the most obscure problems arising are covered in gory detail. Some of the criticism is valid. Some is simply outrageous (for the example the suggestion that owners of fast food restaurants aren't interested in the safety of their workers. Even stupid owners suffer from crimes at their places of business, and workers compensation and personal injury claims of their employees. What finally put me over the top was that after having read nothing but negative after negative about the industry, I decided to look in the index to see when I was going to read about the Ronald MacDonald Houses which care for sick children. Couldn't find a reference to Ronald MacDonald Houses at all. Now maybe I should have read the entire book to make sure that he doesn't discuss it somewhere even tho it's not indexed. I can't guarantee he doesn't discuss it later in the book, because I don't have an interest in reading thru the rest of it at this point. I'll leave it to those who have slogged through all the muck to identify whether it's discussed. I'm very confident that if it is discussed, an awful lot of negative effects of it will be raised. On the other hand, if the author could not come up with negatives, then I'd be fairly confident that he doesn't discuss it at all. Shlosser's approach turns the old morale on its head. To him -- "If you can think of anything nice to say, don't say it."
Rating:
Summary: The beginning of an explanation of a US obsession
Review: While reading this fine text, I went to a dry cleaner in which the minimum-wage employees--in an area where one cannot survive on that wage--most of them immigrants, work at a running pace. I went to a supermarket where the cashier, trying to get the code on one item, said that they've been warned that their positions will be eliminated soon and replaced by computers. In the meantime, people walk up the street, and down the market aisle and everywhere else with cell phones attached to their ears. Schlosser starts the text with that feat of social engineering in which GM etc. purchased the trolley mass transit systems nationwide and replaced them with their own buses, fuel, tires, and the other trappings of mass transit. That, he contends, set the pattern by which the fast food market evolved. (Incidentally, those corporate conspirators who dissembled the trolley system were convicted of their criminal offense. The corporations were fined a pittance, and the executives responsible fined $1 each. That in itself is worthy of a book or two.) The text is full of examples of the "dark side" to which he refers. Among them are unsafe work environments--employees in meatpacking plants crowding in on one another while slashing at the meat with sharp knives, for example. Unfortunately the regulations, particularly during Reagan's administration, became so lax that they weren't being enforced. So meat packing executives were dramatically understating the amount and degree of injuries that were taking place in these high-speed meat processing mills. That leads to another dimension of the book which has riled the emotions of a number of reviewers, its partisan nature. But face it, it was the Republicans who deregulated. And they were well-funded by the meatpacking firms. Indeed, Schlosser refers to various specific Republican legislators. So this wasn't just a partisan diatribe but full of FACTS, something that apparently threatens some reviewers. Another consequence of this industry is the obesity of people all over the world. The Japanese, he points out, had until recently what was applauded as the healthiest diet in the world. But much of that is being overtaken by red meat pushed by the fast food chains taking over there. Then there's the institution of marketing to children not yet out of diapers, looking for long term consumers. And there are many more but read the book lest I outline them all here. I worried at times that Schlosser was going over the "worse case scenario," something with which many a political writer bores me. For instance, he seems opposed to use of the genetically engineered products. While some of these may be dubious, I don't think the concept is necessarily bad, or as bad as claimed by those nay sayers who make a living off developing fear of them. Yeah, such-and-such CAN happen, but often doesn't. But the more I read the more I realize the impact of what the book says, hence my peripheral references in the first paragraph. In fact, that leads to the only weakness I see of the book. Schlosser seems to blame the fast food industry for something that I think is a larger problem. I sometimes call it the "corporatization" of the country--based on the bottom line, like the stock market is some scripture and set of commandments--but it's not even just that. Everyone seems to be in a rush. Sometimes we are, so need a meal in 15 minutes. But getting everything in 15 minutes, and perpetually gabbing on your portable phone is NOT something you need, despite your need to feel important or popular--especially when it's costing you more than you can afford! Those fads didn't come from the fast food industry but from a bigger social condition, perhaps the "lifestyles" we buy. Among the leading consequences, though, to which Schlosser refers is that the bulk of the people, immigrant or not, are not even making enough to survive, while the corporate executives build new palatial subdivisions. That's conspicuous around the U.S. So the executives do this all to make items less expensive for you and me, at the real expense of the employees (serfs). It remains to be seen what the longer term consequences of that tendency will be, but it reeks of the economics of the dark ages. Fortunately the book's epilog suggests what we might do to remedy this situation. Among them is to not buy the fast food and assorted similar products and services. I, for one, will not use the warp speed dry cleaner any more despite the lower prices. They use the same sort of computerization of processing the clothing to be cleaned that the leading fast food chain started using in that industry decades ago. I will not tolerate that sort of herding of employees any more. Read this book and apply it to your everyday experience and those of your poor neighbors. It?s an eye-opener.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful read
Review: Great book for those with a strong stomach.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking and frightening
Review: This book is both distrubing and disconcerting. For anyone who is a hardened carnivore, read this book and then order that Big Mac.
Rating:
Summary: A well-researched indictment of the fast-food industry
Review: I purchased this book thinking that it is mainly about fast-food itself, an exposé of the horrible things that go into fast-food and why you shouldn't eat it. Well, there is some of that, but Schlosser has looked carefully at an entire industry and shown the ways that it has, I believe, unwittingly worked to destroy America. I particulary like the way he drills home one point: fast-food ISN'T cheap if you consider all the costs we as Americans have to pay to keep burger prices low. Destruction of the environment, elimination of the small farmer, creation of an underpaid and uneducated work force, indoctrination of our children-these are just some of those costs. I don't read much non-fiction. This book really got me thinking about corporate America. If we Americans didn't buy so much garbage we wouldn't as consumers need restaurant/clothing/electronic prices to be so low. It's an especially important message in December, as many of us go absolutely mad in the malls.
Rating:
Summary: More than a mouthful...
Review: I was astonished at how little the USDA cares about food quality and how much it cares about profit. It is time to take a stand, one person at a time, and reject E-coli burgers and poop fries!
Rating:
Summary: There is hope for our clogged aortas...
Review: This book is a sensational read, one you won't quickly forget, one that will open your eyes to a lot of what's hidden under and in the food you eat. It's not a finger-pointing diatribe, nor is it a boring list of "crimes" committed by fast food. It's the story of what's happened to an industry that has over time put profitability way above quality. Essentially, it's put all of us in danger. It's shocking to learn that the UDSA and FDA do not have the power to change the behavior of the major meatpacking and fast food companies. Only their clients have this power (i.e., McDonald's Corp. can demand decent work conditions for the employees of slaughterhouses it buys from, but the USDA and FDA cannot). If this is what former President Clinton meant by "the era of big government is over" then let's begin a new one. The government needs power when the health of its citizens is put at risk by profiteers. The revelations this book hands you are the kind that make you say "this is happening in my country?!?! Here?!?!?" The chapter on the "flavor industry" was so astounding I now wonder if what I'm tasting when I bite into food : is it the food itself or its flavoring additives? It's mind-blowing to think that the taste of the food we eat is a chemical mixture manufactured in a huge chemical factory. Some of the other things this book deals with are downright horrifying. What's cleaner: your toilet or your kitchen sink? How hard is it for a slaughterhouse worker to convince his employer that he's injured? How many people die each year from tainted meat? Salmonella? Why do the fries taste so good? How young do some obese kids die of heart attacks these days? This book will forever change how you look at your food. I became a vegetarian while reading it (not only because of the book, but it definitely helped me decide). This is asking too much of the author, but it would be interesting to find out if the CEOs of the major fast food companies ever eat at their own restaurants. I have this suspicion that they don't, and if this is true, it would be quite telling. The saddest realization I had after finishing this book was that similar books could probably be written for many other industries that put profit before people. Why has this become such a widespread behavior in business? Was it ever not the way to do business? Why do people act this way? This book also in many ways conjured up images of the worst the nineteenth-century had to offer. In many ways we're living through that horror again, and this book provides some solid evidence of that. In the end the author does the best thing he could: empower you. We as consumers need to educate ourselves and buy responsibly and let companies know when we do not approve of their practices or products. We probably have more power in the stores than we have in the voting booths. This book will horrify, sicken, and anger you. But it will also fill you with optimism and hope that things can be better, that they will be better. Read it, then make your friends and family read it.
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