Could have been much better
Living in Central America I was interested in reading this book. It was a disappointment. There are a lot of facts thrown together with little information about how these could be verified, and no references as to how the information was obtained most of the times. The book could have been better organized, facts relating to other topics are all of sudden thrown in with no explanation of the links that may justify this. I don't think that Chapman makes a good case that the United Fruit Company shaped the world...they were after all only in Central America and some South American countries. I could think of other large multinationals who probably had more influence on how business is done, like the large oil firms. The last chapter brings us the usual rants about globalization, a more toughful conclusion would have been appreciated. But it gave me an interest in finding out more about United Fruit with more facts to support an analysis
Irene Lepine El Valle de Anton Panama

Waste of a Fascinating Topic
Fortunately for readers, two books were published about Bananas within months of each other at the end of 2007 / beginning of 2008.

Steer clear of this one.

The story of the Banana - and United Fruit's dominant role in the creation of 'Banana Republics' - is fascinating, so even Chapman's best efforts to push away the reader fall short, but I'd recommend Koeppel's book if you're interested in the tale of this not so simple fruit. Chapman's limpid, tongue-in-cheek-but-not-funny prose ruins the main effort here and renders his frequent tangential excursions (which run the gamut from United Fruit Killed JFK conspiracy to United Fruit Caused Americans to Be Fat implication) irritating at best. He summarizes too many of the most interesting episodes of United Fruit history and doesn't bother to discuss what efforts, if any, are being made to identify/create a replacement for the Cavendish. Instead, we're treated to his cursory explication of the evils of multi-national companies (for which, he argues, United Fruit was the trendsetter/model).

I'm not sure about you, but I like my non-fiction served with a bit more fact and a lot less bland admonishment.

Bananas
This is a well-researched and timely book. The writing sometimes is a bit "gee-whiz", presumably because the author is not American and he brings a foreign angle to events that are better-known to American readers than to Europeans.

Small beer book about bananas
I read dozens of books every year like this that are not really worthy of a review, but decided to write one about this small little book since the other reviews about the book are really not a good way to evaluate this little machette job of a book.
Chapman does a fairly admirable job of showing some history of the introduction of the banana into the US in the 19th century. Unfortunately, he falls into the usual trap of finding a US bad guy under every bunch of bananas with no discussion of United Fruit and its affiliates and competitors placed into a rational perspective. Yes, the big bad capitalists tried to make money selling bananas, and yes they abused their power, but Chapman does not show how they were really able to do so. Did they abuse their workers? Well, not as much as the EU currently abuses its serfs by stealing so much of their money in the form of taxes. Were United Fruit's employees forced to work for nothing as was and is the case in many countries across the globe or did they find working for a few pennies a day to be better than their previous existence of working for nothing and only hoping to survive a rough existence? Not according to Chapman.
Any mention of how the EU has been exploiting banana production in the ACP countries vs Equador or other "banana republics"? Not really.
any mention of the hundreds of thousands of lives saved by eating bananas in the last century which would not have happened except for United Fruit? not really. Any mention of how United Fruit had made more positive contributions to civilization than "comparative studies" professors who collect taxpayer money for indoctrinating and not educating the young in colleges around the globe? Not a word.
so whle this may not be a one star book, it most certainly is not a five star book by any objective measure involving balance and looking at the world through something other than anti-American glasses.

The Fruit of Corporate Greed
Bananas - How United Fruit Company Shaped the World by Peter Chapman

After reading Peter Chapman's Bananas, I'll never look at that ubiquitous yellow fruit the same way. It is a well-written, engaging book that reads like an historical novel, sans dialogue. The story of the banana and the consequences of corporate greed is revealed with heavy doses of political intrigue and geographical references, enhanced with a sprinkling of agricultural biology. I'm not giving away any secrets when I tell you this is the story of United Fruit Company, known in Central America at the peak of its empire as "El Pulpo" (The Octopus) with good reason. Oh, yeah, it's in the subtitle.

Many colorful personalities are revealed; so many that a reference list of characters is offered in the opening pages for the reader's benefit. And there are unexpected connections throughout. (Think "Six Degrees of Separation" meets "There Will Be Blood.") A growing corporation, serviced by legal advisor John Foster Dulles and public relations counsel Edward Bernays, supported by a cadre of American presidents (sometimes) and prominent Latin American dictators (usually). After reading the book, the connections make sense.

Chapman brings the story forward to the Nixon, Carter and Reagan era, and there is one name that keeps coming up, and not in a good way: CIA operative and Watergate conspirator Howard Hunt.

Beyond accompanying my cereal, bananas and I have a personal connection. Like Chapman, I spent a summer on a kibbutz in northern Israel, harvesting the fruit. The crude folding knife I used still resides at my mother's house in the Bronx, and the sense memories of the sticky plant residue on my skin and clothing are still there, along with the remembrance of an occasional sighting of a viper in the field.

It gets personal for me on another level. Living in Southern California, one is exposed to Latin American peoples and cultures every day: my Guatemalan physician's assistant, my Costa Rican electrician, a Nicaraguan friend. Now I wonder how United Fruit Company intersected with the lives of their ancestors. At some point, I hope to have that conversation with them.

In summary, this is a story worth telling, and it is told through an informative and well-researched book that is worth reading.