Book review – For God, Country & Coca-Cola, by Mark Pendergrast

Well this book, along with Skyrim, has been the reason that blogging has been slow here recently. This extremely comprehensive book, which is incredibly well researched, has taken me a while to finish, but was well worth it. Given the detail that the book goes into, it could very easily be a dry and boring read; however Mark Pendergrast manages to bring the subject alive with his excellent writing style and the many amusing and/or interesting asides. 

And what a subject to cover, it is fair to say that in many ways, Coca-Cola is the perfect symbol of consumer capitalism (and indeed American capitalism). Unlike many other worldwide brands, such as McDonalds, Starbucks or Nike, Coca-Cola has been around since the emergence of consumer capitalism (and indeed contributed significantly to it) having been first sold in 1886. What this book superbly reveals is that in many ways Coca-Cola was a product of its time, with the contemporary fads and technology of the day greatly affecting the end product. The characters of Coca-Cola’s story throughout its history are all covered, with their biographies, strengths and flaws all exposed. Mark Pendergrast is able to describe a person’s character and appearance in a few vivid sentences. In addition the social and economic affects of Coke are dealt with, from its affect on the perception of Santa Clause, to its pioneering of the franchise system. Mark Pendergrast manages to take a fair stance on The Coca-Cola Company throughout, which leaves the reader with a good understanding of the company. The downside of this book is the size of the text and the line spacing, both of which combined with the length of the book, make it difficult to read.

I would recommend this book for someone who is willing to put a bit of time in to find out about the interesting and important history of this product.