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| Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World | 
| Author: Dan Koeppel
Publisher: Hudson Street Press
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $8.34
You Save: $15.61 (65%)
New (44) Collectible (1) from $8.34
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 28018
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 1594630380
Dewey Decimal Number: 634.772
EAN: 9781594630385
ASIN: 1594630380
Publication Date: December 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 24 | | NEXT » |
who knew? August 2, 2008
awesome book. who knew how important bananas were to the WORLD?? Fascinating story with important questions for the future of hungry people around the world. I'll never think of bananas as a simple food again. The banana has global impact. Great read.
 Very informative July 17, 2008
A bit America-centric for European readers but nonetheless great to have all this info in one place.
Buy fair trade organic every time.
So much history with the Banana... June 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was amazed by this book. It begins with an introduction to the Banana and explains there is even a reference to this fruit in the Bible. Describes history and the impact the Banana has had on the world. Everyone assumes that only Cotton, Gold, and Oil impacted the world and trade & consumerism. But this book details the "hidden" history about the yellow fruit. Concerns about the future of the Banana (due to Panama Disease) are discussed. I reccomend this book to anyone interested in history or botany, or anyone just curious about this fruit!
I gave 4 stars because towards the middle the book got a little mundane and a lost interest for awhile. Overall, well written and interesting.
The book that changed my perceptions June 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Upon my hubbie's recommendation I read your book: Banana, The fate of the fruit etc.
Brilliant! I never imagined that bananas had, and still have, so much influence on America's life.
I recommend the book to everybody and is going to become my favorite gift to give to friends.
Every time I go to the market I cannot look at produce in general (or even coffee, meat, cheese etc) without thinking about the global impact of that crop or its implications in social and political life.
Can a book change your life? I guess yes, it changed mine!
The Geopolitical Ramifications of Fruit June 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
We've all heard the term "Banana Republic," even before a store decided to use it as a name. The thing was, not too many people knew just where the whole concept of such a government came from. The banana IS one of the most popular fruits in the U.S., if not the world, but who knew governments rose and fell on it?
Dan Koeppel's "Banana" tell us all about the ramifications of this food crop, and provides further information about its creation, breeding, and perhaps doom. I heard Keppel interviewed on NPR, so I already realized how fun this book was probably going to be, but was a bit put off on how much information was going to be crammed into it. Surely something would be shortchanged in the telling. Worse still, it wouldn't be as interesting as it sounded. Nope. Koeppel's writing style is just as fresh and dynamic as his verbal summaries.
In this day of commodities being more than just about how much they cost in money, it's worth taking a step back and seeing how they can have an effect on the lives of people involved in growing them, shipping them, marketing them, and selling them. A lot of governments rose and fell in Central and South America to bring us cheap and delicious bananas. There also didn't seem to be much thought in quality-of-life issues for folks living in what would become for us the banana heartland. Folks in Guatemala say suffered a lot from the meddling in civic affairs brought about by Standard Fruit et. al. "Banana" gives as much of a comprehensive look into this as can be, showing how U.S. fruit companies and the U.S. government's needs overrode the needs of people outside the United States.
It sounds depressing, but there's more to "Banana" than government meddling. Koeppel also gives us a thorough look into the science of bananas - how they're raised, how they were crossbred to bring us the banans we eat now, and how work is going into the next strain of banana that will be immune to the blight that caused the end of our grandparents' breed.
"Banana" is an interesting read and may be just the non-empty "beach book" for intellectuals curious into the total effect of something we may have thought of as "inconsequencial."
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