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With this in mind I recently read two books which attempt to sum up America’s two leading international products; Coca Cola and Manhattan.
Russell Shorto’s The Island at the Center of the World begins with an opening passage that details the famous Dutch modesty which is repeatedly demonstrated throughout the book. Bearing in mind that the writer has spent years reading Old Dutch manuscripts, travelling to Holland, and conversing with New York’s foremost expert on Dutch culture of the seventeenth century, some of this modesty has passed on to him.
What immediately struck me was how humble the writing appeared to be, as well as the characters. Pieter Stuyvesant for example, a cranky Dutch general who retired his post to the British Empire and carried on living as a citizen of Manhattan, or poor Adriaen van der Donck, who went to radical extents to bring the ruling power to account but entirely on account of creating a democratic state. At the same time there is none of this self-validating ‘our forefathers’ nonsense, which is surprising given the significant impact that the Dutch had on the creation of what is now New York, but there is a warmth to this idyllic, multicultural, un-puritanical society that would later be the blueprint for Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia.
At the same time there is the story of just how underrated the Netherlands have been throughout history. Their progressive values and international policy are outstanding while Britain was going through an even more ridiculous leadership crisis than it has been this past week. Yet somehow the Christmas snatchers still found a way to ruin it all. Fortunately, the authority of the new rule managed to keep hold of many of the fantastic aspects and relationships of old New York, while ‘most’ of the Big Apple’s surrounding cities maintain their Dutch names and major suburbs such as Harlem or nearby New Amsterdam have survived the sodomy of the British Empire.
The other book was something that I never knew existed until I walked past the Business section of the library. There, in a fabulous, bright red cover, was one of those books that promises to be so fascinating. For God, Country and Coca-Cola, by Mark Pendergrast, sharing shelf space with the original, unauthorised history and the revised and updated version. When I read Fast Food Nation I was entirely sceptical towards the industry as a whole and yet Eric Schlosser wrote such a fascinating book that I was entirely convinced of the power of human cooperation. It preceded many efforts by McDonald's to health-up their menu, while maintaining the greatest epilogue of any book (especially Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the reasons mentioned above and more).
But I couldn’t finish the Coca-Cola story - it had an easy, unacademic flow to it and something of a story - but every page I read made me feel dirtier than the last. Before I read it I was a Coca-Cola lover and I was convinced that this book would support that. However, there was an underlying sense of sleaze, of greasy palms and untold tortures of worker abuse. What makes Fast Food Nation so brilliant is its sincerity, how it tells of the untold horrors of the product line and the management scandals. There is no sense of redemption in the Coca-Cola story, I read the last few pages and most of the first and it is uninspiring filthy snuff that offers no hope at all. Objectively this rings true, Pepsi adverts feature footballers running about doing wild athletics and there is the Pepsi Challenge with great stunts, and after reading this I am going to have to step back five years and reconvert to Pepsi.
I recommend you buy a copy of The Island at the Center of the World.
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