... I am honestly flabberghasted this book has such a high rating. I had to read it for a school seminar class and I was only able to read the first half. Even that was a struggle. But I had to stop after that. I just couldn't take the drone any longer. A large portion of my classmates didn't read it and the ones that did skipped the first half and just read the second half which was apparently more interesting. But whatever; I don't even care. This book is not worth money or reading time.

I will warn all of you future readers: this is a great book and is rather historical in content. Contrary to my common thought that this whole book was bashing the fast food industry, it really did neither. Instead he really shows how fast food originated, how it affects industry (especially industrial agriculture), and why we love it so much. Fast food infiltrates everyday life for much of the world. Read the book to see why and how this came to be. I thought it was a fantastic book and a big eye opener.

After reading this book, it seems as if the fast food industry is the only industry that was able to slide through the civil rights revolution and the workers' rights campaign back in the 20th century. If you're munching on a burger from a fast food restaurant (or should I say, shack), please put it down for you're own health.

There are several things that might be in there that you wouldn't want to eat. You never know if you got the burger that has the severed remains of a worker's finger/arm/leg. Schlosser writes of how fast the assembly line is moving, putting pressure onto the workers, making them lose accuracy and precision in their jobs that they "trained" for (a few days watching a video). This loss of accuracy can lead to some unpleasant surprises when you bite into your burger.

But burgers aren't the only things that one must look out for; Schlosser also writes of an account in which a whole man fell like a vat of lard taht was still churning. Was the lard reclaimed? No. It was shipped out; the packing companies decided profit was much more valuable than honoring a man and his untimely death.

The disgusting facts don't even start at with the meat-packing industries! In the farms in where the cattle are raised, the calves are fed the remains of cows and other animals. Trash even. The unsanitary conditions also turns stomachs. If you were to take a tour in one of these facilities, the regular person is denied access to the killing level. Schlosser elucidates the scene: knee-deep in blood and feces.

Overall, this was a very well researched book. Even though I'm not an avid fast-food eater, this has still deterred me away from eating it unless I know what's in my food.

Well we all know more or less the content but I am still eating fast food. If you change what you are eating you are just fooling yourself. We all know fast food is bad, but tastes good.

According to this book, slaughterhouses are unpleasant places to work, and often injury-prone. Eric Schlosser relates some anecdotes and statistical data to back this observation up, among others of similar obviousness.

It's interesting, to read about the meat packing industry, or the development of mass-produced frozen french fries. I'm glad I did. But what all of this does *not* amount to is a savage, or well-developed, indictment of the fast food industry.

Instead, Schlosser presents a world with almost an endless supply of villains, only a few of which are actually a Wendy's, Subway, or Burger King. The meat-packers promote line-speed over the safety of their workers; agri-business colludes to keep the prices down of their growers; scientists design food-additives with unpronounceable (and, therefore, scary) names; advertising agencies target our children; machinists design equipment that increase efficiency, making work more and more unskilled; governments work in collusion with private industry, opening up our schools to advertisements; etc. Perhaps the meat-packing industry has developed in the way it has to take advantage of the fast food industry's explosive popularity and subsequent demands. And, yes, Schlosser makes the point that fast food execs could "insist on changes" in their supplier industries (and, in fact, sometimes they do). But on the whole, the problems that Schlosser finds in these industries are general problems that can be found throughout nearly all large industries, and the world over.

He finds a young, un-unionized work-force. He finds robberies and crime. He finds unsanitary working conditions. He finds communities changing, and losing their one-time local identities. He finds workplace injuries. He finds the threat of disease. He finds poverty. He finds incompetent government bureaucracies. He finds greedy executives, and children swayed by targeted advertising.

But these are not problems of fast food alone, and they cannot all be laid at the doorstep of Ray Kroc. Indeed, often fast food comes out more of the hero in this book than not; it provides higher quality meat than our school's cafeterias and employs the young and minority workers who might not otherwise be able to find jobs. The fast food companies, themselves, wind up curbing the worst excesses of the industries that market to them. And because they are so sensitive to market pressures, we find that McDonalds spearheads efforts to "go green," or eliminate genetically modified food, even when not prompted by social campaigns or legislation (even if Schlosser never feels that they go far enough).

I'm sad to hear of the rancher who commits suicide due to market pressures working against independent cattlemen such as himself. But the connection between that rancher's depression, and Carl Karcher's decision to expand from Hot Dog carts to restaurants is... slender, at best, and probably, actually, non-existent. In the end, the litany of problems that Schlosser identifies in this book are often horrible, I'll agree, but they are problems that are endemic to large-scale human organization, in both the public and private sector, and the reality of modern-day economics. (And some of the "problems" aren't even really problems, such as the racial integration of Colorado Springs and other mid-west communities, brought about by the low-skill job opportunities presented by McDonalds, et al.; Schlosser links such immigration to rises in crime, etc., but that seems to me to be a fairly close-minded attitude, and close to bigotry.)

This is a well-written and fascinating book, filled with tid-bits of history that I wouldn't have learned otherwise, and I enjoyed it enough to give it four stars. But, as an "expose" on the fast food industry, it falls short, and cannot reach to the fifth.

This is an interesting in depth analyses of how the fast food industry has infiltrated every aspect of our society. However, read it carefully. The author mixes various economic supply chain efficiencies with unethical business practices and bunches them all together in one big scornful shame. The fact that this particular industry has reduced friction of the supply chain through standardization, economies of scale, automation and high tech systems seems problematic to him. He intermingles these things with the lack of government regulation in the industry and how these corporations exploit the uneducated masses. He seems very pro-government and anti-business in many cases, but not always.

Eric Schlosser is an investigator and a journalist. In Fast Food Nation, he explains to the readers both how the fast food industry came to be, and how fast food has badly affected the American culture and those of countries overseas.

Schlosser writes as a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly. In Fast Food Nation, he takes the viewpoint of a jounalist, naturally. Schlosser sheds light on the problems behind the fast food industry: cheap labor, unsafe conditions, and obesity, to name a few. His book contains two sections, one on its history and one on its effects. Section 1 covers the histories of various fast food companies, while Section 2 mainly focuses on the truth behind what you are eating (that is, the meat and potatoes), but also on the global effects of fast food.

Schlosser does an almost excellent job at showing everything the American people need to know, but there are a few small problems. He uses shocking statistics, terrible situations, and horrifying truths to make each and every reader remember exactly what he or she has just read. With all this schocking information, Schlosser somewhat, at times, loses his viewpoint a little bit. In between giving his harsh statistics, he has many smaller stories. Some explain a man's history. Others explain a rural town and its history. All of this history becomes a little bit tedious. A few times, I felt more as if I were reading a school textbook than an astounding book on fast food.

In Fast Food Nation, the statistics are simply unbelieveable. In the back of the book is its sources, so I felt better trusting the information. On the down side, the writing occasionally tends to soften; but on the plus side, the solid, factual, and extremely shocking information in this book is ultimately the only aspect that one would remember after reading this book.

I've taught this book for several years, and over time have realized that the title is quite misleading. Or the content is. Consider: the book is ostensibly a critique of the history/influence/fallout of the fast-food industry in the US. However, much of the book has little to do with this.

For example, one large section focuses on the coloring/flavoring industry, which can be seen, the author notes, in every supermarket. This is a characteristic of the entire food and cosmetics and toiletries industry, not just fast food.

The sections on meatpacking plants are harrowing, indeed. But then I realized this applies to the entire supermarket/restaurant industry, not just fast food. So what's it doing here?

Similarly, the sections on agribusiness, disheartening though they may be, reflect the business practices of this entire section of the US economy, not simply those parts used by fast food. So the detailed discussion of this, though it is fascinating, does not uniquely illuminate fast food.

There are other examples, but you get the idea. Overall, there's a lot of interesting research, well-presented, but rather than calling is Fast Food Nation, it would be more accurate to title it simply Food Nation.

Even before Super Size Me hit the market, Eric Scholessler was criticizing the fast food industry. It is not all about the food itself being risky or of a low quality. The industry itself exploits farms, slaughter-house workers, high school student workers and small business people. Not to mention the risk of getting injured, robbed or shot. Fast Food Nation is a real eye opener what the fast food industry does to children, our health and its workers. After reading Fast Food Nation, I avoid those places even more.

Doug Setter, author of Stomach Flattening and One Less Victim

I've taught FFN a few times, sometimes switching it out with Cadillac Desert. FFN has a lot of information, most of which may be new to readers. It has become an industry of its own, and since Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me, more people have become aware of these issues. While Supersize me is a rock 'n roll, fast-paced, in-your-face romp through issues of nutrition, Schlosser's book is a much more thoroughly researched and encyclopedic take on all aspects of fast food, from the agricultural practices that support fast food, to the nutrition, to the advertising, to the impacts on children (obesity and brainwashing), to the impact on the landscape and architecture, to the globalization of the American lifestyle. It is an easier read that it may seem from this review because most all of the references are in end notes, so his research never gets in the way of the story. This is good and bad. It makes it an easy read, but it makes it hard to evaluate his copious research. As an academic, I do have bones to pick with some of his sources, but these are relatively few, and I have a few more sources I would suggest in support.

If anyone is thinking it, the book is not a novelization of the film. The film is a fictionalized narrative based on the research in this book. An interesting note is that the slaughterhouse scenes in the film were taken in an actual slaughterhouse, in Mexico, if I remember correctly.

I read this book to become more familiar with the fast food industry which is so easy to choose these days. As a busy wife and mother, it is so much easier to drive through somewhere than to cook at home. But I knew that I needed to be informed about my choices and so I read this book. It was very informative, clear, easy to understand. Very blunt in describing the fast food situation. It gave me a good perspective to remember as I choose what my family will eat for dinner. It made the fast food choices not quite as tempting as I realized what I was consuming. A definite read. Better to make an informed choice about what we eat, than to blindly assume that the food we are sold is worth eating.

Perfectly disturbing only because its true! I rate it high, but like a book on the holocost, its hard to say I LIKED IT. I am definitely Recommending it though. A shocker and a sad eye opener. See also Morgan Spurlock's "Don't Eat This Book, Fast Food and the Supersizing of America."

Though there was alot of info in this book that I already knew, there was also a good amount that was new. The most telling thing I can say about this book, is that I haven't touched meat since reading it shortly after it was published years ago.

Interesting read. Nice history of fast food, I enjoyed the read. Mild review of slaughterhouses and how Macdonald changed things and how the government could not. Very sad indeed how america is run by corporations but then again if you didn't know that you're out of the loop.

This book is a required reading for my college composition class and I picked it up and have not been able to put it down!

Amazing insight into all the people behind the majority of our leading fast food restaurants, as well as Walt Disney!

A must read for anyone interested in knowing more about the world we eat in. "Fast Food" a great book to get!

Fast Food Nation
My daughter recommended this book to me years ago. Since then I have loaned out the book several times and bought copies as gifts. I will never see fast food in the same way I used to again. Well written, informative and captivating. If you have children you take out to McDonalds-read this book!

I bought this for a long flight; it was hard to put down so I didn't. That is why I get my own personal light, right? From Walt at Disney to Ronald (Mc D's) a complete look at the influence of fast food over society and especially our children. This was some of the best research and a very interesting part of American History. "Who knew?"
A definite must read if you have ever been in, around or seen fast food.

I read this book before the movie, heard about it from a co-worker. Some of the facts you may already know or heard about, but there are some things in the book that I was not aware of.
Didn't really make me swear off meat, but I do try to limit my consumption of beef whenever I can help it.

A very hard book to read, not because of the writing, but because of the content. Its like a modern day The Jungle. Wow! The book chunks sections of the fast food industry into narratives and stores that read like a novel, yet its non-fiction. An interesting concept and excellent delivery. I even knew some of the factories from when I worked in food distribution for Quiznos.

Buy it, read it and learn from it. You won't be dissapointed. You also just might think twice before pulling up to that drive through window or investing in certain stocks.

These companies have changed (more importantly, limited) your choices of what you can buy in the supermarket, how your neighbors are compensated, the level of refuse around your home and the safety and welfare of American workers. Take the book for what it's worth, but give it a chance and read it. A well written, well researched piece of writing that's worth well more than the sale price.

We all hear about how fast food is "bad" for you and all that, but never much about the process behind it. This books gives a well documented and detailed account on how the industry started and the factors around it that transformed this industry into the beast that it is today. From the potatoes, to the beef and those that are exploited to produce the food that so commonly eaten by all, Schlosser delivers a great book loaded with insight into fast food and its influence on society - not just in America, but globally. A definite must read if you have ever had a french fry.

Couldn't put it down, especially after the visual amplification provided via the film version. I did yawn a few times through some of the more scientific or redundant passages. Which meant little, for me, relative to the importance of this document. I agree with the reviewer who said the overall effect can be depression/feeling completely daunted. Yet after reading this I went vegetarian(after being partly, and boycotting McDonalds, etc., for years) - I experienced an unforgettable turning point. I may occasionally treat myself to free-range, additive-free meat, and I still eat seafood, but that's it. There's no way I can forget the long-term, global repercussions of supporting any restaurant or store engaging in/supporting/profiting from these practices, and I certainly don't want to subject my body to the results. I already knew some of what Schlosser reveals, and he more truth than anyone wants to know. I wish this book were required reading. I've always felt Ronald McDonald was a sinister figure whose effect is partly to intimidate children into compliance, anyway. Supersize Me! and the book, "Diet for a Gentle World" are good adjuncts.

I was looking for two things in this book. First, I was looking for shock value. I found that (traces of fecal material causing illness). The second thing I was looking for was a comparison to grocery store beef. Now that the quality of fast-food beef has been faulted, standards have been raised. The new standards for fast food beef are higher than those of grocery store beef, but no one is going to write "Grocery Store Nation."
I spent some time looking cross-wise at all beef products, but the shock value wore off. Even vegetables are exposed to fertilizer.
Now I'm aware of what fast food is doing to our nation. Unfortunately for America, fast food is very tasty, inexpensive and convenient. Bacon, Double, Cheese, Burger!

I learned of this title from an AP Geography recommended reading list. It is a real page turner! Schlosser delivers hamburger history, business acumen and labor issues with great finesse. Putting the meat packing business in the reader's face is best. Now, if I need a burger, I always look for the manager's picture before buying. This is a great read for all.

Here's a book that really terrifies you. I've always been very careless about my eating habits and have never thought twice about chomping down a hamburger. This book makes you think about that process a lot more. The level of detail in which chemical plants, abattoirs, and the the entire food chain have been examined and ruthlessly exposed is incredible. I would say that this book is a must-read for any individual who ever sets foot in any of the fast food outlets (which really means everyone).

I enjoyed listening to the CD while following along with the book. The first half of the book deals with alot of corporate information which was a little boring. So listening and reading made is more interesting. It comes with 8 compact CD's. 9 hours of listening. The reader had a pleasant voice.

I cannot add more to all of the other excellent reviews written here about this book, except to say that, as the expression goes, "If you're not outraged, you are not paying attention!" Being a physician, I have recommended this book to my patients on countless occasions, not only to enhance their education about nutritional diets, but to also see the connections between Corporate America, politics, and economics, and that Americans can no longer stay in their comfy little bubble of ignorance concerning not only their health, but their lack of involvement in the political process. I cannot recommend this book enough. A GREAT EYE OPENER.

Linda E. Dewey, M.D.

This book is easy to read, and I highly recommend it to all people who eat out (anywhere, not just at "fast food" places). It was eye-opening for me, and I'm a lot pickier eater (for the better) now when I go out to restaurants. This isn't about just one issue, or a few issues, but an overall idea of what is going on at the other side of the counter. I was expecting a big book that told me simply that french fries were unhealthy but I was surprised to find out about a complicated behemoth that is there trying to get us to eat things we probably shouldn't.

WOW...
And I don't say that so much because of the things this books brings to light about the fast food industry. I actually say it because of all the horrifying things I've learned about the BEEF industry! I never would have imagined what goes into raising cattle (the disgusting things they are fed), killing them and then turning them into meat. The dangers that these processes bring upon us as consumers of this beef (mad cow etc.) And the fact that the government is barely, if at all, regulating this?! Because they are "all in bed" with the beef industry! WOW. I am seriously considering from now on buying organic beef. I hope that in the next ten years that this government will start putting in place some better protection for us as beef consumers, at the time this book was written they were not allowed to re-call beef, nor were they able to inspect the factories....definitely a book worth reading and hopefully it continues to get noticed, make waves and bring upon some change.

As for the reading, it was dry at times, but for the most part interesting. I think it was very well written. It was helpful how it was broken down into chapters dealing with different aspects- made it easy to follow the argument and then grasp the sum-up of it all at the end, and how each part ties together. From the chapters on how fastfood/McDonalds got it's start, to the look at "why the fries taste so good", or what's in the beef, to the look at the meat processing plants...the author certainly seemed to do his homework, because he was nothing if not thorough. If Schlosser were to write a follow up, years down the road, I'd definitely read and will certainly recommend this to friends!

Schlosser's exposé of the fast food industry makes for terrifying reading. Now that I am aware of the appalling corporate trade practices, I have been sure to avoid McDonald's (except in order to get hold of the complete Happy Meal collections of Hannah Montana and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- the mantelpiece would have seemed bare without them). However, it is equally worrying to learn about the produce found in major supermarkets. Chicken is frequently known to contain as much as 40% additives. If you ask me, 'chicken' should be just that and it should NOT involve added protein. It is for this reason that I must politely decline Uncle Bruce's invitations to dinner. Since I caught a glimpse of him through the kitchen window (during the final throes of 'injecting' a chicken) I have felt little urge to join him for a Sunday dinner.

This is a very well researched and written tome that I would recommend to anyone interested in how big agribusiness works. Cynical by nature, I'm even more so after reading the book, especially when it comes to politics and big business. If you read nothing else, check out the chapter on the slaughterhouse. Egad.

I look forward to reading Schlosser's other book, Refer Madness.

After reading the book, I became so appalled at the thought of eating fast food again. It's not just about health either. The sad and horrific stories about how factory workers were treated and their working conditions will wake you up. One often knows how bad fast food is, but until you read this, you won't really know just how BAD it is.

I could not put the book down. I found it so intriguing that I had to buy another copy to pass among my family and friends. I was, like the rest of the people who have read this, shocked to know exactly how the large agricultural companies operate and the feebleness with which the FDA and USDA operate.
Being a government employee myself I feel the massive budget cuts and have experienced the mounds of work displaced to employees already overwhelmed. There's no way to catch up or catch anything that is not a blatant violation. So, I'm not surprised to find out that the majority of the time the agricultural business is left to police itself.
I was skeptical by the amount of negative information in the book and wondered if this could indeed really be happening. The author, however, delivers facts and names which when investigated would have to be accurate for those details to be published -otherwise this book would have been shut down before publishing.
That said I feel the book must be on the mark. Knowing that I am more cautious, than ever, about where I purchase my food. I could not stand fast food before I read the book, which gave me relief that not eating junk food is sensible advice. Knowing what I know now I choose to cook more meals at home. I have banned the supermarket for most items that I can purchase locally -meats and vegetables. Trust in the man at Winn Dixie or Food Lion is gone.
My advice; educate yourself. Do not let this be the only source of information about the food industry. Buy locally if you can. Make a friend of your local butcher or farmer's market. Purchase in-season items -this reduces the miles your food has traveled which lessens the environmental impact of what you are eating. It'll guarantee a better quality product too. Know where your food is coming from.

This book a little difficult to read in the first chapters as they tend to remind me of old text books from highschool filled with history and facts that don't seem to affect me, but I trudged on. I'm very grateful that I did. Once you begin to realize how these mundane somewhat trivial facts begin to turn into corporate deception, lack of humanity and a threat to our very way of life, your eyes will open and you'll begin to understand the need for everyone to be made aware of these atrocities against Americans and other cultures around the world. We spend our days backseat driving our politicians and football players while something we take for granted is quietly taking control of our diet and stealing our health from us while we pay them to do it.

If you have ever eaten a hamburger or a french fry and you can read, you shouldn't go another day of your life with blinders on. READ THIS BOOK. It may save your life and the lives of your grandchildren someday.

I am still amazed at the lines I see in the lines of fast food restaurants as I drive past many of them. Obviously, this book still has a lot of minds to change. In retrospect, it may even be preaching to the choir. That certainly does not diminish the importance of some of the statements in this book.

With over a thousand reviews, I trust that most of the reviews has already done an adequate job of reviewing the facts of this book. So I will make some general comments about the work. First even before this book, it would be ignorant to think healthy food comes from a fast food restaurant. By itself, any fried food is generally bad for you. Second, I was expecting the theme of this book to focus more on fast food establishments. Yet Schlosser's statements about the meat packing industry are staggering and frightening. I really do not have much of a desire to eat ground beef again. My third comment is more of a rhetorical question. How long will it be before the American public gets tired of the Republicans bending over backwards for business just because they continually stump for religion? The malaise of the American electorate frightens me.

The people that need to read this book most are probably waiting in line at the drive thru as we speak. When Americans learn that Ronald McDonald's food is not healthy food, perhaps the obesity epidemic in this country will dissolve. At least it will be a good first step.

A fascinating, highly readable evisceration of the fast food industry. The book covers a lot of ground- nutrition, politics, economics, marketing, chemistry, industry, and the human cost as well- with cutting humor and vitriol. A terrific read and eye-opener.

It was astonishing to learn that the apparently inoffensive fast food industry is supposedly evil:

Children were easily induced by marketing campaigns through characters and restaurant features with infantile appeal. What seems to be an innocent and fair approach, was intended in fact to create a consuming habit that could make one forever emotionally dependent. Even school environments were not left behind as this promoted a favorable environment to target youngsters. Problem is that money matters sometimes could talk louder and schools allowed corporate interests to prevail over the main purpose of a school: educate children properly.

Meat packing and potatoes industries are quintessential examples of corporate practices to the max: exploratory and careless practices toward workers, who work too much even in the worst working conditions that are imaginable and get too little in return, subject to retaliation in case of dissatisfaction. Throughput and low cost is what matters, nothing else. Knowing that the meat we eat, the way it is produced, could easily be tainted with pathogens that may lead us to death just makes one wonder if it is still worth the risk, although sandwiches are made irresistibly delicious with a hand of the folks at the flavor industry, that have the ability to turn crap into the most tasteful piece of food ever.

Fast Food Nation unveils the mystery that maintains a chain of both fast food restaurants and related industries well and alive with our precious and honest aid. Despite of the title and regardless of whether the history is true or not, the main purpose of the book is focused on criticizing the corporate practices that can be in every business (not only fast food), promoting easy money returns and poor consideration to the human being.

I am going to write an unfavorable review of the premise of this book, but let me first state that I am in Schlosser's camp in that the proliferation of fast food in the US (and world) is unfortunate.

To Schlosser's credit, he does have an impressive list of interviews with various players along the fast food supply chain. The strength of this book is twofold: One, he provides a good history of how fast food was born, and how it proliferated throughout a generation. Two, because of his discussion, he does provide a number of interesting anecdotes one would not hear unless reading the book. Despite the impressive list of interviews, the sources come from the tails of their distribution - they are inevitably people who are not representative of their entity. Throughout the book, Schlosser makes the embarrassing error of trying to map what happens at the extreme to what happens to the average consumer/producer/employee. The fact of the matter is that with almost anything, there exist inherent tradeoffs. Schlosser continually tries to tell a story through these extreme aberrations. Again: I personally am opposed to those things Schlosser is, but I understand there is a counter story to my personal claims. Schlosser does not even acknowledge the existence of the other side.

Schlosser also tries to politicize much of the book - he comes off as a populist. In what is becoming an all too common mistake in discourse today, he thinks that everything reduces to right/left without arguing why. This pigeonholing substantially dilutes his credibility in my opinion.

In Schlosser's world he would heavily regulate the industry. He makes a few thought-provoking points regarding lax regulation that I agree with for the most part. That said, he is stands in staunch opposition to anything remotely regarding the free market with respect to breaking up the industry. He makes this claim copious times without one iota of rigor or fact... as an economist, I cannot even begin to describe how frustrating this is. His world is too discrete in thinking government regulation is the proverbial magical wand.

Overall the book offers a few interesting stories and some history which primarily composes the first half. The second half lack an intellectual foundation and is too discrete to merit any serious thought.

I am a little more than half way through the book but couldn't resist writing a review. It's packed with research and was written with 2 years of research as the author travels around to many places and investitages and meets up with people and some things are not even disclosed such as the customers of the food additives company that use them in their foods to enhance their taste and that's why Mc Donald's fries taste so good. It doesn't matter if you are a Republican or Democrat, American or Asian or other, low volume fast food eater or high one, this book will open your eyes. It has interesting historical information such as how Ronald McDonald character was chosen based on his physical appearance and the first choice being eliminated due to looking overweight. Anyway, I won't tell you, just will say that I have enjoyed this more than the best fiction book I have ever read and to the reviewer who says that overweight people will use this book to blame corporate and government America, I want to tell you that I was blind to a lot of things before reading this book and I don't blame anybody, only my naivete AND people who don't read this book will probably fall prey to the crookedness of the fast food industry.

Fast Food Nation is a book that will definitely make you think and equally give you something to talk about. The information gathered here is fascinating and only on rare occasion does it ever get preachy.

I absolutely loved this book. Even the sections that presented content that was at points, difficult to swallow. The research done was absolutely exhaustive and the perspectives gathered, incredibly well rounded and diverse.

"Fast Food is heavily marketed to children and prepared by people who are barely older than children. This is an industry that both feeds and feeds off the young."

Schlosser is an excellent words smith that presents a history and perspective of the fast food industry with eloquence. The information is as captivating at times as it is repulsive at others.

A must read for anyone interested in food in the slightest. And they way in which Schlosser's story builds is fantastic. Brick by brick, he bucks his way through the sordid details of reprehensible collection of industries that extend well beyond the fast food industry itself.

~m

Possibly my favorite nonfiction work of all time. Fast Food Nation is full of facts but reads like a novel. Scholosser is similar to John McFee or Bill Bryson in that while talking about facts, studies and statistic, he can so engross you with what he's discussing that you never notice you're learning something. Fast Food Nation is a more academic, though again highly readable, version of Morgan Spurlock's "Don't Eat this Book" or his film "Supersize Me." However while Spurlock targets McDonalds specifically and focuses on the health issues which arise in that restaurants frequent patrons, Scholosser takes a more objective, though similarly disturbing, look at "Big Food" in it's entirety. The book covers a number of diverse issues beneath the big food umbrella such as marketing to children, treatment of employees, customer loyalty, chain histories, founder philosophy and much more. The author does a good job at giving you just the right amount of required background information and interesting side facts to keep the book flowing and, like the best exposés, leaves you with a feeling of having formed an opinion on your own based on piled evidence and not simply though sheer force of the author's persistent will.

... I should hope they wouldn't let me pass -- that is, until I removed the sensational, isolated-case examples, the sneering defamation, the outright deception... See p. 125 "typical strawberry shake" ingredients, cf. Fenaroli's Handbook and the actual ingredients of a McDonald's shake -- nothing you don't already consume regularly in many other foods, including "organics" and public water (you can look up the "chemicals" yourself).

Far be it from me to defend fast food or take up any other sort of bandwagon cause. Do this: go to two or three local McDonald's, find out where their supply trucks come from, trace them back to the distributors and processing contractors. In my case, it's Keystone Foods, LLC, in PA. A rather anti-climatic trip when I all I could find were shiny facilities and scarcely a bloody hand.

Or buy a few hamburgers, take them to your local university chemistry lab for analysis. This is a completely un-exciting exercise with un-sensational results. It's beef like you'd buy at the supermarket, from slaughtered animals, as animals have been slaughtered for millennia -- flesh torn from bone with sharp stones, hacking some bone, some extraneous other stuff in there.

Of course maybe you live in that scary composite land where every bad thing that ever happened anywhere happens there on a regular basis. I want to visit this place. It's so dull around here.

Sinclair did Schlosser's work already, before generations of journalists like Schlosser discovered they too could weave facts and visions of moral superiority (with a lot of selective economic ignorance) into gold. Mm, well maybe that's my moral superiority peeping through.

Anyway, I'm glad my professors make a distinction between research and sensational data collection.

First of all, it's not just about fries. This is about American history and how we became so obese craving for those golden brown yummy fries and other delicious fast food for that matter. It's about how some companies made fortune while naive consumers are being suckered into the habit. If you ever watched 'Supersize Me,' this book is far better and lot more in depth. I learned a lot about what happends in fast food and meet packing industry. Impact to American society is simply phenomenal. If you can sue tobacco industry (mind you I am not a smoker), let's go take on fast food, high calorie drinks, salty packaged foods. I believe the next in order is FDA since it authorized food manufactures to put 10 teaspoons of sugar in every can of beverages. The book also talks about meat packing industry and it's workers. It helps you to look at how American business runs in general. If you like steaks, please take caution. I lost my appetite on red meat for two weeks after reading this book. This book is great page turner and it certainly can widen your perspective on those yummy fries we enjoy so much.

For a nonfiction book, this is very interesting, and scary. It makes you never want to eat hamburgers again, and question all the things you do eat.

After reading this book I made a promise to myself never to eat fast food again!

According to the author, the meat you eat at MacDonald's could be infested with cow feces (and other very nasty stuff such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, bovine spongiform, and encephalopathy)! He reports accidents where employees at slaughter houses got injured and some of their bodily parts made it through to the meat we eat in fast food chains. He even claims that there was an accident where a man fell into the meat grinder and was grinded whole together with cow meat. His remains mixed with cow beef was shipped to fast food chains and served to unsuspecting diners! This book will give you a new perspective on what's in your food!

He also reports on the appalling conditions in slaughter houses, and suggests that the government should intervene and impose strict guidelines. After reading the book, you will be surprised and shocked at the appalling working conditions that actually exist on American soil! Corporations will stop at nothing to cut costs and make money. The author also reports that sometimes the meat of dead cows is shipped to the fast food giants.

The author also describes how the animals are maltreated, confined in small areas, and made to eat garbage and even old newspapers! Meat from their own kind and other animals are also fed to them (this is how Mad Cow Disease started. Cows are herbivores not carnivores!).

However, the book is not only about the gore in the meat we eat at fast food chains. The author does a good job tracing the history behind the big fast food giants, such as MacDonald's. He explains how the growth of fast food chains has changed the American economy. So anyone with an interest in restaurant history and management will find this book useful. An interesting fact: 1 out of 8 teenagers in the U.S has worked at a Macdonald's!

Be prepared to get sick - very sick - after reading this book! And be prepared to change your eating habits!

I only wish I had read this book sooner!

This is a great book. It is so because it's very well documented, it's honest and unbiased. I read it 5 years ago and it changed completely the way I eat and it also changed my opinion about big American food and agriculture corporations. I have never been a big friend of fast-food places but after reading this book I definitely think it twice before I get in into one of them. Additionally, I agree with the author that somehting has to be done to stop their practices and abuse of labor laws and food regulations. I totally recommend it.

Oh that everyone would read this book and react in a way to make the changes needed! I am buying everything locally that is available now. :)

I was really enjoying Fast Food Nation, until it started in on the fatphobia "omg obeeeeeeeeeesity epidemic!!!!" nonsense, complete with the flawed statistics that the CDC ended up retracting (omg 300,000 people are KILLED by being fat every year! ... oh wait guys, we were kinda wrong on that, sorry, our bad).

He bought the obesity crap hook line and sinker, and I'm really disappointed in that part of the book. After all, he made REALLY good points right up TO that section, and even after it, but hey, gotta take a stab at the fatties! The E.coli and Salmonella spread by crappy (literally) meatpackers kill people, and that can be actually proven with real science, but you don't see THAT on the news. After all, little kids dying of bacterial infections don't give us a convenient target for hatred!

I want to take that section of the book and just black it out. I know that it's trendy to blather on about the obeeeeeeeeesity epidemic, but that doesn't mean it's accurate. I really would like to send the author a copy of Paul Campos' "The Diet Myth".

I would give this book five stars if it weren't for the anti-fat section. Seriously.

The book is very informative about not only what is put in the food but also how the companies formed, and how it affects society. I worked in the fast food industry and have seen the high turn over rate that occurs. I also know that the companies isn't that sanitary. No hairnets, no gloves, I have witness someone sneeze on their hands and continue making the burger. The same oil used to fry the certain meat is the same used to fry the fries and as a vegan that didn't jive well.

The book although focusing on the fast food companies agenda and inner workings did bring to light that many of your food is not handled properly not just at the slaughterhouse but when it gets to the location as well. It is a book that everyone should read, because if everyone was aware of the events and demanded a change, it would happen.

This book makes a persuasive case for rethinking the way that America feeds itself. Mr Schlosser has gathered the evidence and is unrelenting in his condemnation of the behavior of the fast food giants. We are taken on a tour of the fast food industry and it isn't pretty!

The saddest part for me was to discover that Subway, which could reasonably be described as a healthier fast food option, is one of the worst companies in terms of the way it treats its franchisees.

We need healthy fast food which provides a fair living for the workers and decent nutrition for the consumer. Not too much to ask, you would have thought...