Rating: 
Summary: want some fries with that?
Review: I enjoyed this book. I'm sure most people, even while enjoying a fast-food meal, suspected that it might not be exactly "kosher". That part of the book wasn't much of a surprise. What I really enjoyed, was reading about the meat industry, the demise of family farms and the demise of union influence. Reading about the way the employess are treated in the meat industry was very disturbing to say the least. The story of "hank" and his family ranch, was heartbreaking. I enjoyed reading about the hard-working guys who originally started some of these fast-food restaurants many years ago. I think this book was a very good read!
Rating: 
Summary: Eye-Opening...and Scary.
Review: Great Book! One of the few authors to dare challenge the great Corporate Entities, this book shows the underbelly of those happy-go-lucky commercials you see on TV every day. The book is chilling in that it points to a future where you are controlled, cradle-to-grave, by some brand name or another. I recommend this book to everyone who voted Republican in 2000!
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Summary: You will never eat fast food again
Review: After reading this book I will dramatically reduce my fast food intake - not that it was high to begin with. The best parts of the book, for me, were the history of how McDonald's began and the desciption of the slaughterhouses in Greely CO. I believe the treatment of the workers in these slaughterhouses seemed to be the biggest crime along with how contamination of the meat with E Coli could occur. It was also amazing to read how little the government really does to inpsect these slaughterhouses. I very much enjoyed this book but I thought that, at times, the author could have gone into more detail or made a better connection to the idea he was trying to bring across. For example, the author met with an independent cattleman. They rode in his truck over his ranch and discussed briefly how his methods were better for the envirnoment. There was also a discussion about how the beef industry could shut out the out-of-favor small cattlemen by simply not buying their cattle. I wanted to know more about the problems of this cattleman. Could he pay his bills? Did he have any run-ins with the big beef industry? ... etc. This rancher actually seemed fairly successful yet later had some tragedy. So how did this all tie in together? The author also steals his way into a slaughterhouse but, I believe, is a little lean (pun intended) on describing what he actually sees. This book could have been a little longer. Also, the book was a little light on how the fast food industry affects the environment. Overall it was a very good read but sometime left you wanting to know a little more.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: As I progressed through 'Fast Food Nation', I was prompted to make life choices: my family will never, ever, again eat at any fast food restaurant, and I've made the investment in home canning materials. I, personally, found the material Mr. Schlosser presented a call to action. It's based on sound research. It should scare every parent into looking closely at their family's eating habits.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, although not entirely fast-food related
Review: This a very solid book related to a frequently referenced market. Extraordinarily thorough, the research lends insight to the practices that contribute to the final product that are rarely discussed (e.g., production, workforce, consumers). Well written with moving graphic images of some of the "consequences" of the Fast Food movement. At times, it does seem as thought there is an underlying axe to grind, and the purist business fan might get disinterested in the detail provided on the meat industry. After the first third of the book, the focus shifts behind the scenes, and the actual organizations move into the background, to the dismay of anyone interested in the fast food industry. All told, it does build on prior research, and is a pleasant read.
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Summary: Important book
Review: This book is an excellent expose of the meat and fast food industry. The bottom line is these companies have too much power and are able to get away with endangering public health and worker safety, as well as creating monopolies that drive small farmers, ranchers, and restaurant owners out of business. I'm not surprised this book has garnered negative reviews from political conservatives who benefit from a system that ignores human needs and quality of life in order to increase profit margins. Read it for yourself and decide. The excellent research, backed up by numerous footnotes and careful documentation of sources, speaks for itself.
Rating: 
Summary: The author's obvious bias adversely affects this book.
Review: What could have been an informative and interestiing book was largely spoiled because of the author's anti-Republican, anti-business, anti-capitalist bias. Not only does the writer make no attempt to hide this prejudice but he seems at times to wear it like a badge of honor! The author obviously wishes us to adopt his well footnoted views about the societal evils wrought by the meat packing and fast food industries as gospel, and while he provides many corraborative discourses to support his arguments he allows little or no rebuttal, or "equal time" as liberals love to say, to those institutions and persons he skewers. This would have been a far more powerful book had it been inclusive. The author's lack of objectivity and balance reduces what could have been a meaningful statement to mere propaganda.
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Summary: Mistruths and bias galore
Review: I actually enjoyed this book until about the middle third. He credits the invention of the disassembly line to Monfort when it was invented in the 1840's in Cincinnati and perfected later in Buffalo. At that point, I began to read critically. The author attributes all of the ills of the meatpacking industry to the Republicans. Reagan and Bush demoralized the FDA and the Republican Congress lowered the standards and funding. Last time I checked we had a Democrat President from 1992 to 2000. Bill Clinton did not want a tough FDA because of his connection with Tyson Chicken. It's common knowledge, 60 minutes had a piece on it. But this book doesn't have a bad thing to say about any Democrat. The author also blames the meat industry for using dairy cows to make hamburger. He writes of overaged, diseased cows being slaughtered to make hamburger meat for McDonalds. In the following paragraph he complains that the dairy cows are slaughtered at the young age of 4 years. The cows are either overage or not, they can't be both. If dairy cows are used to make hamburger, so what? It's a complete waste of meat to use beef cattle. This book is a diatribe disguised as an expose without any pretense of fairness or accuracy. If you wish to have your preconceived notions of the fast food industry confirmed, read this book. Otherwise, give it a miss. I eat meat, which is my only connection with any of the industries in this book
Rating: 
Summary: There's poo-poo in the cow sandwich!
Review: Hamburgers come from cows. Chicken sandwiches are made out of chickens. French fries are potatoes fried in grease. These and many more startling facts are uncovered in Eric Schlosser 's "Fast Food Nation"... If you eat a lot of burgers and fries, and you're feeling sick and overweight and don't know why... read this book. Otherwise, you might flip through it to read the gross parts just for fun..
Rating:
Summary: Informative and readable
Review: Where else would you find out that the "refried beans" at Taco Bell arrive as "dried brown flakes" or that all drinks and shakes at McDonald's arrive as "syrup"? It was also interesting to me that flavor scientists concoct all kinds of chemical formulas to make these frozen, dehydrated products taste like food again. The section on the widening waistlines of the U.S. was also very informative. All in all, a very worthwhile book!
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