Bananas: How the United Fruit
Company Shaped the World by Peter
Chapman
Banana Republics
In this compelling history of the United Fruit Company, Financial Times
writer Peter Chapman weaves a dramatic tale of big business, deceit, and
violence, exploring the origins of arguably one of the most controversial
global corporations ever, and the ways in which their pioneering example
set the precedent for the institutionalized greed of today’s multinational
companies.
The story has its source in United Fruit’s nineteenth-century beginnings in
the jungles of Costa Rica. What follows is a damning examination of the
company’s policies: from the marketing of the banana as the first fast food,
to the company’s involvement in an invasion of Honduras, a massacre in
Colombia, and a bloody coup in Guatemala. Along the way the company
fostered covert links with U.S. power brokers such as Richard Nixon and

CIA operative Howard Hunt, manipulated the press in new, and stoked the
revolutionary ire of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro.
From the exploited banana republics of Central America to the concrete
jungle of New York City, Peter Chapman’s Bananas is a lively and
insightful cultural history of the coveted yellow fruit, as well as a gripping
narrative about the infamous rise and fall of the United Fruit Company.
Personal Review: Bananas: How the United Fruit Company
Shaped the World by Peter Chapman
've always been a nut for learning and for general knowledge. Plus, as a
retiree, I'm now living in Central America part of the year. This
combination led me to buy the book, "Bananas," by Peter Chapman. I'm
glad I did. The book gives you a good deal for your money, not only in the
fascinating history of bananas and of the United Fruit Company, but also in
its offerings about "free-market" capitalism, with its ups and downs, how
the U.S. government has gotten directly involved with Central American
"banana republics," and, to boot, the stories of two fascinating characters
who are major players in the history of United Fruit.
First the banana part: Turns out that the herb or plant really had not been
a staple crop for the natives in the way that it was eventually developed
and marketed by United Fruit. No, "Big Mike," as the end product
becomes known, was, essentially, "invented" and marketed to be a
commodity, not unlike its later cousin, the "Big Mac." The product could
only be grown in sandy tropical soil, in some of the most hostile areas on
earth to man. The concept was a long shot to work, a real long shot. And
that is quite a story, in itself.
But that is just part of the book. More interesting, to me, is the economic
story surrounding the bananas and United Fruit, with all the ups and downs
of the capitalist system, combined with all the political intrigue that involved
the company.
Per the author, who seems to be both an historian and a journalist in this
effort, the United Fruit Company "set the template for capitalism, the first of
the modern multi-nationals." At its peak, it owned a fleet of ships, land the
size of several New England states, hospitals, railroads and more. But it
also "owned" people, governments and enormous power, both within the
U.S. and abroad. The company thrived in a low-regulation, low-wages,
low-taxes environment. The key to its success was to be in total control.
Character number one is Minor Cooper Keith, who, in the late 1800's was
charged with overseeing the operations of the construction of a railroad
inland from the eastern coast of Costa Rica. In the process, he ended up
with huge plantations of bananas, which he continued to collect under the
United Fruit Company umbrella throughout Central America and the
Caribbean, during a period where the company built the demand for
bananas in the U.S., as well as monopolistic, operational supply chain.

Character number two is Sam Zemurry, a Russian Jew immigrant, who
gets into the banana business in the New Orleans area at an early age.
Later, he would be known as the "Banana Man," who the author likens to
Death-of-a-Salesman Willie Loman's brother, Ben, who says, per the play,
"I went into the jungle at seventeen, and at age twenty-one, by God, I
came out rich." Per the author, Zemurry embodied "the spirit of American
enterprise." In 1911, he arranged for a coup in Honduras, after which he
was put in charge of the country's finances, and, in the process,
established the power and prestige the company wanted in all it's banana
republic countries.
So, the formula for United Fruit's success was based on the nasty work of
clearing jungles and building banana plantations, plus, when needed, the
harvesting of bananas and the loading of ships. Control and manipulation
of manpower became the central issue. Wages were set at below-poverty
rates. Strikers were quickly replaced by workers brought in from other
regions. Meanwhile, the banana was a huge hit with American consumers,
plus the company had convinced the American public that it was
benevolent in its services to the countries and workers of the "Banana
Republics."
But that was not reality. In Columbia, in early 1929, reportedly, as many
as 1,000 strikers were shot and killed. United Fruit was part of the cover
up of the massacre. Then, decades later in Guatemala, in the early
`50's, after a new President was elected, one who promised to improve the
lives of Guatemalan peasants, United Fruit declared war. The result was
an alliance with the United States CIA to overthrow that President and
install another, one who was much more favorable to United Fruit. In the
process, the U.S. press was duped and the nation was convinced that the
former President had ties to the Communist block. But, in fact, and in
parallel to the Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, despite the CIA
having access to all government records after the coup, little to no links to
communism were ever found.
Eventually, the roof came crushing down on United Health. Duping
reporters in the Guatemalan coup caused a reaction that led to skepticism,
and as more and more countries cried for freedom for their masses, the
horror stories of United Fruit were center stage. Eventually, U.S. public
opinion and government policy came to believe that capitalism based on
competition between companies, not monopolies that resisted competition,
was the best that American had to offer. Castro's overthrow in Cuba took
over huge areas of sugar cane, without compensation, from United Health,
which estimated the loss at $60 million. Press stories labeled the
founders of the company among "the wildest and greediest men in history."
By the late `70's, the stock of the company had crashed, and the
government had taken over the books

Says the author, "United Fruit is the reason behind laws regulating the
behavior of large companies." But, how does one "regulate" the current
multinationals, like AIG, for example? And what about all this talk about
the U.S. moving toward socialism? How does that fit into all this?
If there is a weakness of the book, it really does not give the details about
the profits of the company along the way. We don't learn anything about
that. We don't really understand the business plan.
But the book IS full of tidbits that relate to current events. For example, it
says that market crashes came at the rate of one per decade in the late
1800's. And in another section, it says that United Fruit had been born in
the "Age of Panics." More insight comes in telling us that United Fruit and
a "band of U.S. business moguls" opposed Roosevelt's New Deal. They
felt that building bridges in San Francisco and such, as a way to put people
back to work, was counter to the prevailing economic theory that it was
better to leave "well enough alone." This, of course, sounds familiar in the
discussions of the 2009 federal stimulus package.
And how does the story of the rise and fall of United Fruit actually related
to the modern multi-nationals and/or companies that are able to achieve
competitive advantages? In Central American today, for example, TACA
Airlines continues to improve its dominant position in the region, as other
airlin
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