Rating: 
Summary: Having it
Review: When my boyfriend saw I was reading this book he said not to blame him when we couldn't find anything to eat. Well, this book didn't quite convince me. Is it really a surprise to find out that a slaughterhouse is not a pleasant place to work? Or that McDonalds advertising is aimed at children? The fast food industry is out to make a buck, just like everybody else and just like the writer of this book. Look at the not so shocking revelation in the descriptions of this book that finally reveal that there is actually feces in the meat. Well, the government also allows a certain amount of rodent droppings in dairy products and basically if you don't grow it yourself you don't know what you are eating. I have to give Schlosser credit for researching this subject extensively, but honestly it felt overlong and drawn out, and maybe not much interest to a person like myself, who was expecting to hear more shocking revelations than there aren't too many students in Colorado sporting a cowboy hat. I just found it riduculous that so many social ills are blamed on the fast food industry when these things can easily be attributed to many other sources....
Rating: 
Summary: WHERE'S THE BEEF?
Review: I enjoyed this book through and through. It was thourough and scholarly as well. Basically, the book is dedicated to being an exposé of modern day fast food and the travesties in their disobeying of laws and codes of not only morality, but also law. It is, easily, a modern-day version of Upton Sinclair's work, "The Jungle". Many people have claimed never to touch fast food again after reading this book and, I kid you not, they are not lying. By the end you will have gotten into a cow carcass, sat next to e-coli, and, worst of all, you will be entranced by horror stories from the slaughterhouse. It isn't for the weak of stomach, but if you are looking for the truth, this is the place to find it. Also, the books length may seem intimidating to some, but it reads fast and smooth. Schlosser spends a good deal (but not to much) of time making sure the reader knows the economic and scientific lingo, not all authors will do that. It goes well with Eherenrich's "Nickel and Dimed" (that's the order in which I read them), so read that one either first or next. You won't be disapointed
Rating: 
Summary: Did Somebody Say, [CENSORED]?
Review: Yes, somebody did. According to Eric Schlosser in his examination of the genesis and consequences of American fast food culture, French protesters at the trial of sheep farmer Jose Bove, carried signs saying "Non`a McMerde." Bove had demolished a McDonald's under construction in his hometown of Millau, France, which shows everything is not yet lost. "McMerde" is an apt name if Schlosser's reporting on the conditions in the meatpacking industry is correct.There, greed dictates that beef is processed with such speed that it is often impossible to prevent the meat from being contaminated with bovine excrement! Schlosser divides his study into two parts: "The American Way", and "Meat and Potatoes." In the first he looks at the cultural matrix that gave birth to fast food, and the culture that fast food has generated: the entrepreneurs that built it, the precocious L.A. car culture that nourished it, the advertisers that [market] it, and the kids that work behind the counter and sell it. In the second he focuses on where the hamburgers and fries come from: who raises the beef and grows the potatoes, how they are processed and sold, the uneducated wage slaves, mostly Hispanic, many illegal, that do the dirty and dangerous work in the meatpacking companies, the few mammoth and greedy companies that monopolize the industry, and the wizards of chemistry that concoct the flavors that make it so irresistible. Schlooser is most interesting when he is relating anecdotes, and telling stories that illustrate the three-ring circus of the fast food world: Carl Karcher, founder and chairman emeritus of Carl's Jr., and an admirer of St. Francis of Assisi, surveys the subdivisions, strip malls, and fast food joints where once ranches and orange groves thrived, and affirms his undying faith in "progress"; Mikhail Gorbachev lectures dozing, foreign-policy-challenged fast food executives amid the surreal glitz of Las Vegas' "Mirage" hotel; Food industry giant Monfort terminates worker Kenny Dobbins without even a pink slip after a monstrous string of injuries he has incurred in loyal service to them makes his continued employment less than profitable. "Fast Food Nation" would have been a much better book had Schlooser made his points with stories like these. As it is, the flow of the book is clogged by reams of stats. The same frenzy for measurement that drives the homogenization of food and culture that Schlooser decries, dictates that no social reality is meaningful unless it sliced, diced and packaged in the language of statistics.
Schlooser certainly has an anti-Republican agenda, but this is not without reason. As he shows, over and over again Republicans have supported the greedy, community destroying policies of big business. What is objectionable is not that Schlooser exposes big business' Republican lackeys, but that he thinks the problems he details can be cured by the Federal Blob and its' Democratic feeders. It is way past time for transcending the silly Punch and Judy show of Democrat and Republican "politics". In his epilogue, Schlooser tells of Conway's Red Top, a group of family owned hamburger restaurants with ties to the locale community and old-fashion quality and service. Surely here in a large part is the answer. In both government and business bigger isn't better, but small is beautiful. The book that offers sanest and most lasting solutions to America's eating disorder is Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions". Check it out.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring! Too Long! Too drawn out.
Review: Unless you're some nerd rocket scientist save your money. Book is totally boring. Only 10% of the book is worth reading. It does'nt get right to the point. Totally boring chapters about founders of McDonalds. Even goes back to cowboy days. I just wanted to hear the dirt-- you know the juicy details. You'll find yourself skipping whole chapters. Talks about dumb laws related to the meat... I love reading but this book is just too difficult and BORING. 383 Pages.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: The amount of horrible things done to human beings to provide us with some french fries is incredible. This book is easy to read, thought-provoking, horrific (at times) but a MUST READ. I sent a copy to my friend and told her to send it back when she was done so I could continue to pass it on.
Rating: 
Summary: Great read
Review: This is a great read, not only for the many interesting and shocking facts and anecdotes presented. The author attempts to trace historical trends from the end of World War II using the fast food industry as an anchor. Obviously, a book of this nature is not going to get a handle on all the complexities of our society, but it's a good venture all the same. The author throws a lot of different information into the mix which may bore some, but fascinated me. It seems to me that many of the negative reviewers for this book are probably either conservatives who are allergic to the faintest hint of a liberal attitude, or fast food industry people appalled at having their dirty laundry aired. If you fall under either of these categories, don't read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Fast food Nation Review!
Review: This books has the greatest impact on me. I did not eat any fast food for the last month or so. I was just reading it, and it makes me sick of how they create the fries, meat, and animal cruelty I would say. I think it's animal cruelty because I dont think it's right for animal to be treated like they are not alive at all. They fed differently then any other animals. They actually inject something to the cow and let them eat junk food or dead animals. It is also said in the book that they were mixing the rotten meat, which alread dead by the time it came to the plant and hid the diseases from inspectors, that had been returned by customers and making it into packages of hamburger meat. I was totally grossed out and dissapointed of what they had kept from all these years in the fast food industry. I think it's also wrong how they wanted kids to be their main targets of customers. Why do they make children eat their food by giving them toys for? I do not understand why they want to do it in the first place. They already knew what's in it and in the past years or so,and now they want more children to eat their products. They made happy meals so children can get their toys. What are they thinking??? Another thing that I think it's pretty messed; the way they treated the workers. I think one of the workers says "we were walking on blood..." That is the most disguisting thing you can ever imagine. Imagine eating food that has people's blood in it, how do you think it will taste like? They paid them only certain amounts of money, and they have to work very hard. This book is a great book to me and probably for others too. It makes us realize how they make the meat, fries, drinks, etc. It is very well organize how they talk about the food, workers, cattles, etc. This is the best book, that I ever had read. Makes me realize how bad to eat fast food.
Rating:
Summary: Best Since The Jungle
Review: seemingly non biased, fair and factual historical view of the devlopment of the fast food industry and the way it has ingrained or encompasses americana.
very well written, easily read, infromative, slightly shocking, and an over all excellent read!
Rating:
Summary: Initially Interesting, but Loses its Way
Review: Schlosser gets off to a good start, weaving a fascinating history of the fast food industry. The origins or McDonalds, Carl's Junior, KFC, and others provided a brief and interesting snapshot of the social evolution of post-WWII America. Schlosser is effective in connecting the dots between the family automoble and the life-style changes that made fast food a truly American culture. But beyond there, he tries too hard to vilify the industry, and to politicize the topic. While there likely are excesses and abuses in this business, I doubt that many have ever considered "fast food" a pillar of industrial virtue, leaving the reader underwhelmed in the "truth" Schlosser's reveals. (You mean a slaughter house is an unpleasant place to work! Gasp! And people even may get hurt there! Oh my God!) Perhaps we've all become too calloused since the muckraking hayday of Upton Sinclair to care anymore.
Rating:
Summary: A Revealing Look at An Industry
Review: Eric Schlosser does an outstanding job developing his argument that the fast food industry in the United States is responsible for more than just heart burn and mediocre food. I was skeptical at first about all of the claims the author made about fast food, but Schlosser is able to use a combination of emperical data and personal stories to make his point. The central thesis of this book applies not only to the fast food industry, but to the economy as a whole. Overall, the book not only describes the problems associated with the fast food industry, but makes realistic suggestions to solve these issues that both consumers and the industry could live with. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a revealing look at the fast food we consume.
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