Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry($24.04Value)

Description

"Frerick's prose throughout is both direct and masterfully controlled, with every point supported by extensive references and notes. This is no alarmist screed but rather a careful, systematic, and utterly damning demolition job —an exquisitely informed exposé... A genuinely revelatory look at mass food production in the United States"  — Kirkus Reviews , starred "In this eye-opening debut study , Frerick, an agricultural policy fellow at Yale University, reveals the ill-gained stranglehold that a handful of companies have on America's food economy...It's a disquieting critique of private monopolization of public necessities." — Publishers Weekly , starred 2025 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Winner Kirkus Reviews "Best Books of 2024" Food & Water Watch's " Book of the Year " American Library Association "Outstanding Academic Titles 2024" Electric Literature "Best Books of Spring 2024" Barons is the story of seven titans of the food industry, their rise to power, and the consequences for workers, eaters, and democracy itself. Readers will meet a secretive German family that took over the global coffee industry in less than a decade, relying on wealth traced back to the Nazis to gobble up countless independent roasters. They will visit the Disneyland of agriculture, where school children ride trams through mechanized warehouses filled with tens of thousands of cows that never see the light of day. And they will learn that in the food business, crime really does pay—especially when you can bribe and then double-cross the president of Brazil. Barons paints a stark portrait of corporate consolidation, but it also shows that a fair, healthy, and prosperous food industry is possible—if we take back power from the barons who have robbed us of it. "Winner of the Food Issues & Matters Cookbook Award, International Association of Culinary Professionals" "One of Good Food's Best Books of 2025" "Winner of the Silver Nautilus Book Award in Journalism & Investigative Reporting" "One of Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2024" "Food & Water Watch’s Book of the Year" "One of Choice’s Outstanding Academic Titles of 2024" "One of Electric Literature’s Best Books of Spring 2024" "In this eye-opening debut study, Frerick, an agricultural policy fellow at Yale University, reveals the ill-gained stranglehold that a handful of companies have on America’s food economy…It’s a disquieting critique of private monopolization of public necessities." ― Publishers Weekly, starred "Best Books of 2024: Frerick’s prose throughout is both direct and masterfully controlled, with every point supported by extensive references and notes. This is no alarmist screed but rather a careful, systematic, and utterly damning demolition job—an exquisitely informed exposé... A genuinely revelatory look at mass food production in the United States" ― Kirkus Reviews, starred "The Best Books of Spring 2024… Frerick yanks back the curtain on a truly astonishing collection of violations, legal and moral in the American food system… Despite the dire subject matter, Frerick is able to inject moments of humor and ends the book with sincere hope for change in the future if we are willing to work together to make a difference." ― Electric Literature "Frerick is a staunch Democrat, but if there is one issue where the left and the populist right can make common cause, it’s farm policy.... Conservatives should read Frerick’s book." ― American Conservative "After reading [Austin's] book, I have come away with a completely different idea of agriculture that I cannot unsee." ― Bloomberg Odd Lots "Each chapter of Frerick’s book is based on a tremendous amount of research, as well as anecdotal scenes of the author’s personal contacts with US agriculture. His prose is refreshingly accessible and nonacademic." ― Los Angeles Review of Books "Frerick’s Barons is a breath of fresh air because it repeatedly calls out the corruption in the U.S. agriculture and food system and the U.S. political system… well written and accessible for multiple audiences… valuable for undergraduate and graduate courses. In fact, I intend to assign the book in my undergraduate courses." ― Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development "[Frerick] has a knack for making explicit the connections between policy and the concrete realities of people’s lives... [ Barons is] an indictment of our regulatory system and the many ways the government — under both Democratic and Republican administrations — has failed to break up monopolies, prevent them in the first place, or meaningfully hold them accountable for wrongdoing." ― Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) "Frerick’s greatest strength is in drawing out the federal, state, and local policies (and policymakers) that fueled the rise of the captains of industry he profiles." ― American Prospect "Some may herald Barons as an overdue update of 'The Jungle,' the 1906 book by Upton