Book Log 2008 #35: Bananas! How the United Fruit Company Changed the World by Peter Chapman

It's been a while since I've read this, but I do have a sense of lingering disappointment. I think it stems from a lack of follow-up on the event that starts the book off: the dramatic suicide of CEO Eli Black, who threw himself out the window of his office on the 44th floor of the Pan Am Building in New York. The book delves into the company's early history, and how it grew in power to dominate the countries that were home to its plantation, culminating in its involvement in a 1954 coup in Guatemala.

From there, though, the history of the company gets sparse, missing I think a chance to link the company's rapacious practices with its later problems (even if the link isn't provable, it'd have been a nice contrast from a literary point of view).

Overall it's a decent example of how globalization can go wrong, though at times the author's ovbious contempt for his subject takes away from things. Not that there's much to love about United Fruit, but less is more at times.