Synopses & Reviews
Close to three quarters of U.S. households buy orange juice. Its popularity crosses class, cultural, racial, and regional divides. Why do so many of us drink orange juice? How did it turn from a luxury into a staple in just a few years? More important, how is it that we dont know the real reasons behind OJs popularity or understand the processes by which the juice is produced?
In this enlightening book, Alissa Hamilton explores the hidden history of orange juice. She looks at the early forces that propelled orange juice to prominence, including a surplus of oranges that plagued Florida during most of the twentieth century and the armys need to provide vitamin C to troops overseas during World War II. She tells the stories of the FDAs decision in the early 1960s to standardize orange juice, and the juice equivalent of the cola wars that followed between Coca-Cola (which owns Minute Maid) and Pepsi (which owns Tropicana). Of particular interest to OJ drinkers will be the revelation that most orange juice comes from Brazil, not Florida, and that even not from concentrate” orange juice is heated, stripped of flavor, stored for up to a year, and then reflavored before it is packaged and sold. The book concludes with a thought-provoking discussion of why consumers have the right to know how their food is produced.
Review
"Striffler presents the first in-depth look at the rise of the chicken industry in late twentieth-century America. The story is vivid, engaging, andin chapters dealing with Mexican and other immigrant chickenworkersriveting."Deborah Fitzgerald, author of
Every Farm a Factory
-- Cynthia A. Ruder - Slavic and East European Journal
Review
“A gripping and deeply sobering view of ‘big chicken from the bottom up. Strifflers experience on the (dis)assembly line, his sympathetic grasp of the hopes, dreams, and origins of the workforce, and of the larger history of the industry, make for a uniquely powerful and memorable book.”James C. Scott, Yale University
-- Deborah Fitzgerald
Review
"Modern chicken production and consumption is embedded in a fascinating web of political, economic, social, and even psychological factors that need to be described, understood, and questioned. Steve Striffler, combining scholarly analysis with his remarkable brand of participatory research, has produced a masterful book, one I will recommend widely."Kelly Brownell, Yale University -- James C. Scott
Review
"With gripping prose and clear analysis, Strifflers
Chicken brings workers, growers, consumers, as well as bird together around one big, unhappy table. His treatment of Mexican immigrant workers at Tysons, in
particular, is a model of modern-day ethnography."Leon Fink, editor of Labor: Working-Class History of the Americas
-- Kelly Brownell
Review
"Extraordinarily powerful. . . . This book will do for chicken what
Fast Food Nation did for beef." Marion Nestle, author of
Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health -- Leon Fink
Review
'“Behind the wholesome facade industry has created for orange juice is Alissa Hamiltons remarkable story of corporate power, marketing, trade and labor issues, and shrinking biodiversity. This story needs telling.”Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., Yale University, co-author of
Food Fight: The Inside Story of The Food Industry, Americas Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It -- Blair Dee Hodges - Association for Mormon Letters'
Review
“You wont believe how many ambushes have been sprung on the noble orange on its tortured way from the orchard to your gullet. In this exemplary, accessible commodity study and history of regulatory failure and industrial chicanery, Hamilton lays it all out. Would that every major element in our daily diet had so able a sleuth and historian.”James C. Scott, Yale University -- Kelly D. Brownell
Review
"Squeezed relentlessly shatters the pleasant perceptions of morning orange juice. A strikingly original history of the Florida orange juice industry, it is deeply researched, cogently argued, and altogether eye-opening. Hamilton reveals that most of the orange juice sold in the stores is not, as advertised, either fresh or from Florida, and she advances a spirited brief for the consumers right to know the truth about the production of the foods they consume."Daniel J. Kevles, Yale University
-- James C. Scott
Review
'\"Full of zesty, fresh insight, concentrated scholarship, and unsweetened truths, Alissa Hamiltons Squeezed will give you a healthy mistrust not just of orange juice, but of corporate Americas agenda for all our food.\"Raj Patel, author of
Stuffed and Starved -- Kelly D. Brownell'
Review
'\". . . reveals that orange juice, with its image as a natural Florida product . . . is often shipped from South America. . . . Consumers have a right to know what theyre consuming . . . and that is at the heart of [the] story.\"Devra First, Boston Globe
-- Raj Patel'
Review
"A fascinating, gut-wrenching study—but absolutely not for the weak of stomach."—Kirkus Reviews Mark Bittman - The New York Times
Review
"Pachiratand#8217;s extraordinary narrative tells us about much more than abused animals and degraded workers. It opens our eyes to the kind of society in which we live."and#8212;Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation
Review
"A truly stunning achievement.and#160; Every Twelve Seconds takes us into the slaughterhouse and asks: Why do we work so hard to conceal the daily routine of industrialized killing?and#160; The result is a masterpiece that is as sophisticated as it is hard to put down."and#8212;Steve Striffler, author of Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America's Favorite Food
Review
"By far the most thorough and immersive accounting of slaughterhouse operations in contemporary agribusiness."and#8212;Erik Marcus, author of Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money
Review
"Pachiratand#8217;s prose and tone are readable, horrific, and compelling.and#160; The documentary spell it casts recalls the steady, unflinching eye of Orwelland#8217;s Road to Wigan Pier. Astonishing."and#8212;John Bowe, author ofand#160;Nobodies: Slave Labor in Modern America and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy
Review
"Timothy Pachirat's courageous study of kill floor work exposes the fiction of "humane" slaughter.and#160; This book is required reading for people who care about animals and for those interested in how distance and concealment operate in our society."and#8212;Gene Baur, President of Farm Sanctuary and author of Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food
Review
"and#8230;a detailed and brilliantly executed ethnography of an industrialized slaughterhouse in Omahaand#8230;its clear, jargon-free prose will make it accessible to both graduate and undergraduate students across disciplines."and#8212;Clarissa Rile Hayward, author of De-facing Power
Review
andldquo;A profoundly sobering exploration of the interplay between the imperatives of the modern meatpacking industry and the dehumanizing slaughter of cattle.andrdquo;andmdash;Ian Shapiro, author of The Real World of Democratic Theory
Review
and#8220;[I]t would take an exceptionally visceral, in-depth account to make a meaningful contribution to the literature of animals suffering for our nourishment. Thatand#8217;s exactly what Timothy Pachirat provides in Every Twelve Seconds.and#8221;and#8212;Tom Bartlett, Chronicle of Higher Education
Review
and#8220;A lucid writer, Pachirat excels in explaining how a slaughterhouse works.and#8221;and#8212;Ted Conover, The Nation
Review
and#8220;The book is superbly written, especially given the grimness of the subject.and#8221;and#8212;Mark Bittman, The New York Times, Opinionator column
Review
and#8220;This is a masterful expose, written in crystalline prose. In tying the cruelty and dehumanization of industrialized slaughter to the politics of sight, the book adds to a growing canon of recent work . . . by extending people's understanding of and exacerbating human repugnance to one of the great moral failings of current times. Summing Up: Highly recommended.and#8221;and#8212;CHOICE
Review
and#8220;This book is important. Very important. [. . .]and#160; buy it, read it, and share it with anyone who thinks theyand#8217;re at peace with eating animals. After all, what Pachirat shows without telling, is that every time we eat animals we promote suffering that, should we confront it directly, weand#8217;d deem entirely unacceptable."and#8212;James McWilliams, Eating Plants blog
Review
andldquo;A firsthand account of various kinds of slaughterhouse work [in which] Timothy Pachirat did it all. . . . We can count ourselves lucky that Every Twelve Seconds is a very good book if not a flawless one. . . . It forces upon us an unacademic yet profound question: How can something be right, if it feels so horribly wrong?andrdquo;andmdash;B. R. Myers, The Atlantic
Review
“The Jungle for the 21st century.”—Portland Press Herald B.R. Myers - The Atlantic
Review
"A fascinating, gut-wrenching studyand#8212;but absolutely not for the weak of stomach."and#8212;Kirkus Reviews
Review
and#8220;The Jungleand#160;for the 21stand#160;century.and#8221;and#8212;Portland Press Heraldand#160;
Synopsis
From inside the chicken factory, a report on the real cost of chicken for farmers, workers, and consumers
Synopsis
Anthropologist Steve Striffler begins this book in a poultry processing plant, drawing on his own experiences there as a worker. He also reports on the way chickens are raised today and how they are consumed. What he discovers about Americas favorite meat is not just unpleasant but a powerful indictment of our industrial food system. The process of bringing chicken to our dinner tables is unhealthy for all concernedfrom farmer to factory worker to consumer.The book traces the development of the poultry industry since the Second World War, analyzing the impact of such changes as the destruction of the family farm, the processing of chicken into nuggets and patties, and the changing makeup of the industrial labor force. The author describes the lives of immigrant workers and their reception in the small towns where they live. The conclusion is clear: there has to be a better way. Striffler proposes radical but practical change, a plan that promises more humane treatment of chickens, better food for the consumer, and fair payment for food workers and farmers.
Synopsis
A political scientist goes undercover in a modern industrial slaughterhouse for this twenty-first-century update of Upton Sinclairand#8217;s The Jungle
Synopsis
This is an account of industrialized killing from a participantand#8217;s point of view. The author, political scientist Timothy Pachirat, was employed undercover for five months in a Great Plains slaughterhouse where 2,500 cattle were killed per dayand#8212;one every twelve seconds. Working in the cooler as a liver hanger, in the chutes as a cattle driver, and on the kill floor as a food-safety quality-control worker, Pachirat experienced firsthand the realities of theand#160;work of killing in modern society. He uses those experiences to explore not only the slaughter industry but also how, as a society, we facilitate violent labor and hide away that which is too repugnant to contemplate.
Through his vivid narrative and ethnographic approach, Pachirat brings to life massive, routine killing from the perspective of those who take part in it. He shows how surveillance and sequestration operate within the slaughterhouse and in its interactions with the community at large. He also considers how society is organized to distance and hide uncomfortable realities from view. With much to say about issues ranging from the sociology of violence and modern food production to animal rights and welfare, Every Twelve Secondsand#160;is an important and disturbing work.
About the Author
Alissa Hamilton is a Food and Society Policy Fellow with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. She lives in Toronto.