Rating: 
Summary: Incisive and good, but pedantic and mechanical at times.
Review: Outstanding and cutting insight into the fast food industry; predominantly United States and beef. Like _The Jungle_ from the early 1900's, you'll never view this fast food the same again. And this will be to your own benefit.Good amount of emphasis of the book is on the consequential health crisis, as result of eating this modern-day fabricated junk. Too, excellent social insight of the workers in this industry and how these entire industries (potato, beef, chicken, flavorings, transportation) changed to meet the fast food demands of, general post-1950's, to present day. This book is absolutely the best on countless captivating facts, like: McD's makes the money from the real estate and not so much the food (world's largest retail property owner), pork was top meat in U.S. prior to WWII, impulse accounts for over 70% of all fast food stops, franchising actually started with General Motors in 1898 in lacking capital to hire salesmen, and on and on... Only, at points, it reads just like all these most interesting snippet/facts stitched together in sentences and paragraphs. Still, though, it's logical, well thought out and does flow, mechanical at times, or not. This book is believed to be a fair assessment by author and him telling it like it is. As such, this work is not only easy and enjoyable to read, but it's a compelling public service to not just the U.S., but the planet. Well done.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome!!!
Review: This book was absolutely wonderful, it finally explained the whole workings behind the evils of McDonalds. It made me become a vegetarian, and made me look closer a what "stuff" is in our food. MUST READ if you want to start to have a healthy diet and prevent disease!! READ IT!!
Rating:
Summary: Good read for students
Review: Much has already been written about this book, but I just want to add how interested my high school students were when I read aloud parts of it in class (one of them actually went out and bought their own copy.) Of course they were interested because they could relate to the topic of fast food, but at the same time this book provided a critical analysis of an industy that most of my students take for granted as being as American as apple pie. I found that reading them parts of this book helped me to further show how investigating a topic can often lead to better critical analysis and insight than what they get from televised news and commercials, the latter of which I wish Schlosser had explored in his work--how advertising helps to make fastfood so accetable in this culture. I look forward to this work coming out in paperback so that it might be puchased for classroom libraries.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated
Review: I felt this book is overrated. While a good indictment of the fast food industry, the book was more interested in the plight of the average fast food worker than it was in how the food actually gets processed. I was expecting more information on the processing tactics of the various companies and was extremely disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Fast Food Nation is a wake up call for consumers everywhere.
Review: I used to wish that my local fast food restaurants would add a veggie burger to their menu. I liked the idea of loading my brood into the car and zipping through the drive thru - simple, quick, and heck, a meal even came with a toy. I would think, "Man! If only they had a veggie burger!" Now, I realize that the issue is much more complicated than that. In reading this book, I learned about the way that the fast food industry exploits consumers and even the very people who help to make the business a success - the workers in the restaurants and the meat packers. It's a very complex issue. Some of this exploitation takes place because a large proportion of the workers are young, unskilled, and/or poor - from the kid behind the counter, all the way to the meat cutter who takes a chance on his life every day by simply performing his job. Quotas, not people, are what are important in an industry that appears to focus solely on the all-mighty buck. I may not eat this food, but my friends and family do. It's chilling to read statements such as, "A great deal of effort was spent denying the federal government any authority to recall contaminated meat or impose civil fines on firms that knowingly ship contaminated product. Under current law, the USDA cannot demand a recall." Or, "In the eight years since the Jack in the Box outbreak, approximately half a million Americans, the majority of them children, have been made ill by E. coli 0157:H7. Thousands have been hospitalized, and hundreds have died." When I started reading Fast Food Nation, I expected it to be dry and uninteresting. It's not. Eric Schlosser, who spent three years on research, takes the subject of fast food and demonstrates how it applies to many different aspects of everyday life. I found it to be interesting and moving. I quoted it constantly to anyone and everyone who would listen. I suggest you read this book and pass it on to as many people as you possibly can. -Reviewed by Michelle Smith
Rating: 
Summary: "Mad Cowboy" was much more entertaining and informative
Review: It was interesting to read about the fast food industry -- especially how the foods are developed. However I was disappointed that the book was so political, and too heavily weighted towards socio-economic issues for my taste (pardon the pun). At every opportunity, Schlosser points out that the good guys are Democrats and the bad guys are Republicans. About 1/3 of the book contained interesting information and the balance was fairly dry. For a much more entertaining and enlightening read, consider "Mad Cowboy" -- more specifically about meat than about fast food, it also has a liberal slant, but somehow much less offensive and mean-spirited.
Rating:
Summary: Very powerful book
Review: I read Fast Food Nation with an open mind, thinking that I was reading it for pure entertainment. Well, shortly after I finished the book, I became a vegetarian. I'm sure that Eric toned down the horrors that he encountered when researching this book, but it was enough to encourage me to give up eating meat forever. Great book, great expose on the industry. Very entertaining, and very shocking!
Rating:
Summary: Point of view with evidence
Review: A terrific piece of research on the background, and ultimately the benefits and costs of what our chain-based, fat-laced, quick-paced, good-to-taste restaurant choices have become. While I don't always agree with Schlosser's politics or (implied) solutions, he has assembled a great set of vignettes illustrating how our world of food has changed, not always for the better. I would argue that his point of view ignores the alternative that existed, and might still have existed if our nation hadn't ultimately chosen fast food to feed ourselves. (Greasy spoons with uneven service and sanitation weren't necessarily better than a chain store of known/measured quality, value and service.) Moreover, efficient production methods have made caloric intake (with or without nutritional value) relatively cheap leading to a world where very, very few Americans starve while many of us find overeating way too inexpensive. Still, the book was an excellent read and has given me pause at the effects of our incremental consumer choices and what they've meant for our economy and environment.
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Summary: Holy horrid communism propaganda, Batman!!
Review: I do not dispute the facts of the book and I have since given up eating fast food but the author is a carbon based communist biped. Seriously, I felt that he constantly assualted free enterprise and the system that created fast food. He seemed to blame everyone but the people really responsible, us. We as consumers are the ones responsible we demand food that is tasty, made quickly and cheap. So, the industry created a system to meet our needs. We determine what they do. If we quit wanting this that the whole system goes away. Some of the other reviews point out the labor issues and low wages. Well I have a question for you, would you be willing to pay $15 for a Big Mac extra value meal or $5 for a large Coke? Obviously that is ludicrous BUT costs would rise significantly and less and less people would patronize the unionized restaurants and then people get laid off, etc. So, higher wages in an industry that is primarily low skilled would drive costs higher with no benefit to the consumer or the company. Also the author "claims" towrds the end that inovations we live with today are mostly created by goverment. WRONG! Just ask Intel and Microsoft. The fact is this book became an attack on American culture and way of life some of it justified some of it wacky but all of it made you think. I gave it one star because I felt like I was reading something from one of our enemies at a time when I didn't want to hear about that. America for all its faults is a great country and it isnt perfect, Mr Schlosser should figure that out.
Rating:
Summary: overcooked
Review: i purchased this book hoping for an interesting dissection of the world of fast food... essentially, i finished it because i bought it, not because i was captivated.. here's some advice when reading it...go to the last chapter. it is at this point that the true nature of the author emerges. otherwise, this was a total bore. file under: "could have been a nice leaflet"
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