Barons

Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry

De: Austin Frerick, Eric Schlosser - foreword by

Narrado por: Stephen Bel Davies

Barons is the story of seven corporate titans, their rise to power, and the consequences for everyone else. Take Mike McCloskey, chairman of Fair Oaks Farms. In a few short decades, he went from managing a modest dairy herd to running the Disneyland of agriculture. Mike benefited from deregulation of the American food industry, a phenomenon that has consolidated wealth in the hands of select tycoons, and along the way, hollowed out the nation's rural towns and local businesses.

Along with Mike McCloskey, listeners 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. 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.

These, and the other stories in this book, are simply examples of the monopolies and ubiquitous corruption that today define American food. The tycoons profiled are hardly unique: many other companies have manipulated our lax laws and failed policies for their own benefit, to the detriment of our neighborhoods, livelihoods, and our democracy itself. A fair, healthy, and prosperous food industry is possible-if we take back power from the barons who have robbed us of it.

©2024 Austin Frerick (P)2024 Tantor

Anti Free Market

I was surprised by how much the author thought government intervention would help a problem created by government intervention. Other than that critique, the book does its intended job of disgracing these barons.

We Are What We Eat

And unfortunately we now, more and more, eat trash. Maybe that explains current state of our nation and society? Between the food that we eat and the media we consume is it any wonder we are riding a crazy train to self destruction? It is sad, but true. Excellent book for self analysis.

Amazing Reporting

The more I learn, the more horrified I become. The most important thing to keep in mind is that monopolized food production hurts all of us.

This book should only be heard by Americans who eat.

This book illuminates what is just out of the visible realm by so many of us. It is a brilliant, if occasionally cynical, treatise on why this country has become the way it is, viewed through the lense that is more universal than taxes...the food we must all eat. This is a MUST LISTEN title. Enjoy!

The Walmart chapter

I’m 38 born and raised in Iowa and still live here so it really hit close to home 😢

Excellent read

Too often I read a book and think this could have just been an article however this book is the opposite, I could have used 5-6x more of the downstream effects of the barons.

Extremely disappointing.

This covers some really important material. Unfortunately, The author prefers propaganda to precision. As somebody close to the agricultural industry, who recognizes the need for change in agricultural policies, this was terribly disappointing. There are numerous misstatements, exaggerations, and falsehoods.

Follow the money

Nothing new here. No storyline. Just a recitation of facts with grossly affected tinges of indignation by the narrator, whose voice was impossible to tolerate. The topic merits better treatment than is done here. The "follow the money" story gets old.