Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World

I've always been a nut for learning and for general knowledge. Plus, as a retiree, I'm now living in Central America part of the year. This combination led me to buy the book, "Bananas," by Peter Chapman. I'm glad I did. The book gives you a good deal for your money, not only in the fascinating history of bananas and of the United Fruit Company, but also in its offerings about "free-market" capitalism, with its ups and downs, how the U.S. government has gotten directly involved with Central American "banana republics," and, to boot, the stories of two fascinating characters who are major players in the history of United Fruit. First the banana part: Turns out that the herb or plant really had not been a staple crop for the natives in the way that it was eventually developed and marketed by United Fruit. No, "Big Mike," as the end product becomes known, was, essentially, "invented" and marketed to be a commodity, not unlike its later cousin, the "Big Mac." The product could only be grown in sandy tropical soil, in some of the most hostile areas on earth to man. The concept was a long shot to work, a real long shot. And that is quite a story, in itself. But that is just part of the book. More interesting, to me, is the economic story surrounding the bananas and United Fruit, with all the ups and downs of the capitalist system, combined with all the political intrigue that involved the company. Per the author, who seems to be both an historian and a journalist in this effort, the United Fruit Company "set the template for capitalism, the first of the modern multi-nationals." At its peak, it owned a fleet of ships, land the size of several New England states, hospitals, railroads and more. But it also "owned" people, governments and enormous power, both within the U.S. and abroad. The company thrived in a low-regulation, low-wages, low-taxes environment. The key to its success was to be in total control. Character number one is Minor Cooper Keith, who, in the late 1800's was charged with overseeing the operations of the construction of a railroad inland from the eastern coast of Costa Rica. In the process, he ended up with huge plantations of bananas, which he continued to collect under the United Fruit Company umbrella throughout Central America and the Caribbean, during a period where the company built the demand for bananas in the U.S., as well as monopolistic, operational supply chain. Character number two is Sam Zemurry, a Russian Jew immigrant, who gets into the banana business in the New Orleans area at an early age. Later, he would be known as the "Banana Man," who the author likens to Death-of-a-Salesman Willie Loman's brother, Ben, who says, per the play, "I went into the jungle at seventeen, and at age twenty-one, by God, I came out rich." Per the author, Zemurry embodied "the spirit of American enterprise." In 1911, he arranged for a coup in Honduras, after which he was put in charge of the country's

This is a very readable book, written by a journalist who actually met and interviewed many of the characters in this history. It also gives a clear picture of how various greedy people and groups manipulate, control and destroy what they touch. I highly recommend this look at United Fruit and how they shaped the modern corporate agenda. I found the style to be enjoyable although it covered a lot of varied information from quite a time period. It should be a required reading in public high-school.

Peter Chapman follows his excellent Goalkeepers History of Britain with Bananas, a fascinating history of the United Fruit Company, one of the world's first true "multi-nationals". He brings his experiences as a long-time Central America reporter for the BBC and The Guardian to bear in a revealing exposé of power and greed gone wild. Chapman takes us from the early days of the development of the banana from a tropical oddity, to its spread throughout the Caribbean into Central America. Along the way, we meet a variety of characters, who expanded United Fruit Company and economically conquered Central America. Over the past 130 years or so, UFC pioneered business and corporate models that became the basis for multinationals and our present festering globalization. I can remember teachers and professors trumpeting against the excesses of the United Fruit Company and "banana republics" back in the 1960 and 70s. Chapman details the long and tawdry road of corruption and malfeasance that UFC used to bully its opponents, both in the business and political worlds. Among the cast of characters are Boston Brahmins like the Cabots and the Lodges, the "upstart" Russian Jewish immigrant Sam Zemurray, both Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, and even Carmen Miranda and her animated descendant, Chiquita Banana. Along the way, we watch how UFC influenced US policy toward Latin America, from Gunboat Diplomacy, to the Good Neighbor Policy to Jimmy Carter's Human Rights to Ronald Reagan's Iran-Contra shenanigans. It is a story that mirrors the bigger flow of American foreign policy over the past century. Of special interest in light of the War in Iraq is Chapman's reporting of the CIA/UFC manipulated coup d'etat in Guatemala in 1954. Managed with certitude by an uneducated, anti-communist, boob of a diplomat--Ambassador Jack Peurifoy--it featured contrived incidents, faked battle scenes, and propaganda aimed at both a Commie-fearing America and a pre-industrial Mayan populace. Of course, this putsch went the way United Fruit and the anti-communist Eisenhower administration hoped for. Many of the same simplistic machinations that worked so well in a less complicated setting, now seem to have caught up with us in the Middle East. The world has adapted to disingenuous and ham-fisted American tactics, but sadly the Bush administration is still using them. I first read this book in England last summer and am delighted at the book's arrival in the American marketplace. I highly recommend it to those interested in history, or contemporary politics and economics.

Chapman's BANANAS! is a must must read, especially for anyone desiring to learn more about the history behind globalization, U.S. backed multi (or rather uni-)nationals, and presumably (in my opinion) the catalyst to the U.S. embargo in Cuba that exists to this day. Let this be a warning (more for those not already well-versed in United Fruit Company history): the book may make you go bananas over its revealing content. But what is more fun about reading this book is Champan's attention to detail as he writes in a manner that could make for a dark comedy. Will it make it on to U.S. University reading lists, I'm pessimistic, but it should (as the previous reviewer suggests).

As a comparative American studies student, the history of the Americas particularly appeals to me. Currently writing an essay on the tragedy of United Fruit, I turned to Peter's Chapman's "Bananas!: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World" for an intelligent and at the same time, accessible read. Chapman's fluid account of the dirty dealings of "La Compania" was informative and filled with fascinating detail. All in all a great read for anyone interested in academics or simply the troubled history of an overwhelmingly powerful company which played a huge role in the lives of many. I can safely say that it will not take long for Chapman's book to make its way onto the reading lists of any University specialising in Latin American history.