Kindle Price:	$14.99
Sold by:	Penguin Group (USA) LLC Price set by seller.

Promotions apply when you purchase

Add an

audiobook with Audible narration for $7.49

Audiobook Price: $16.55

Save: $9.06 (55%)

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Michael Blanding

Follow

The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink Kindle Edition

by Michael Blanding (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 35 ratings

See all formats and editions

The Coke Machine takes readers deep inside the Coca-Cola Company and its international franchisees to reveal how they became the number one brand in the world, and just how far they'll go to stay there.

Ever since its "I'd like to teach the world to sing" commercials from the 1970s, Coca-Cola has billed itself as the world's beverage, uniting all colors and cultures in a mutual love of its caramel-sweet sugar water. The formula has worked incredibly well-making it one of the most profitable companies on the planet and "Coca-Cola" the world's second- most recognized word after "hello." However, as the company expands its reach into both domestic and foreign markets, an increasing number of the world's citizens are finding the taste of Coke more bitter than sweet.

Journalist Michael Blanding's The Coke Machine probes shocking accusations about the company's global impact, including:

? Coca-Cola's history of winning at any cost, even if it meant that its franchisees were making deals with the Nazis and Guatemalan paramilitary squads

? How Coke has harmed children's health and contributed to an obesity epidemic through exclusive soda contracts in schools

? The horrific environmental impact of Coke bottling plants in India and Mexico, where water supplies have been decimated while toxic pollution has escalated

? That Coke bottlers stand accused of conspiring with paramilitaries to threaten, kidnap, and murder union leaders in their bottling plants in Colombia

A disturbing portrait drawn from an award-winning journalist's daring, in-depth research, The Coke Machine is the first comprehensive probe of the company and its secret formula for greed.

COKE is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company.
This book is not authorized by or endorsed by The Coca-Cola Company.

Print length

382 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Avery
Publication date

September 6, 2011
Reading age

18 years and up
File size

1314 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Report an issue with this product or seller

Bartow J. Elmore
153
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $9.99
Alissa Hamilton
30
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $22.99

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Put down your soda, read The Coke Machine, and join the global movement to rein in unaccountable corporations." ---Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Brightsided

About the Author

Michael Blanding is a Boston-based investigative journalist whose work has appeared in the Nation, the New Republic, Slate, the Boston Globe Magazine, and Boston. He is currently a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute of Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University and the author of The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink.

George K. Wilson has narrated over one hundred fiction and nonfiction audiobook titles, from Thomas L. Friedman to Thomas Pynchon, and has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005DIAVO4
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Avery (September 6, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 6, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1314 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 382 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ B004MPRWOQ

Best Sellers Rank: #2,408,099 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #507 in Restaurant & Food Industry (Kindle Store)
- #1,347 in Company Histories
- #1,393 in Restaurant & Food Industry (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 35 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Michael Blanding

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Michael Blanding is a Boston-based investigative journalist, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Slate, The Boston Globe, Boston magazine, and other publications. He is author of North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar’s Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard (2021), which won the International Book Award for narrative nonfiction; The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps (2014), which was a New York Times bestseller and an NPR Book of the Year; and The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink (2010). A former senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University and the Carr Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School, he has taught writing at Tufts University, Emerson College, and GrubStreet Writers.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

35 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Nancy Mueller

Even my 12 year old grandson liked this book!

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2013

Verified Purchase

You know what I found compelling about this book? Even my 12 year old grandson was interested in it's content. This is a great read for adults and adults who would like to educate their children about the REAL story behind Coke!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

ShanTzu

interesting

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2012

Verified Purchase

Interesting book, full of information. Truly an eye opener!
My father and I are both enjoying this read and recommend it to anyone that wants to know more....

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Dshopsonline

An informative read

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2011

Verified Purchase

I discovered this book through my advertising industry newsletter. Most people in advertising are familiar with Coke's powerful branding being responsible for their lead in sales over the years, despite taste-test preferences toward Pepsi. I read the book with plans to delve deeper into the history of their advertising over the years, but also because I have an interest in health and nutrition, especially the fight against child obesity.

This book certainly shed insight into both topics, purportedly referencing other historical or nutritional accounts of Coke. Most of the book addresses Coke's modern history in terms of unions and environmental impacts within two countries, then American's response to international human rights affairs. It was part of the story I didn't find as interesting, yet the book was heavily developed in these sections.

Overall insightful, full of unflattering data which has probably been somewhat manipulated for effect. Don't read it as fact, read it as an editorial essay.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Darla M. McCorkle

Bad Coke

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2016

Verified Purchase

I don't drink Coke bc of this book.
Just an awful company

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2017

This first ~120 pages were interesting, however , the last ~250 pages were really tough to read. The biased slant rather than simply presenting the facts against Coca Cola distracted from the point Blanding is trying make. It tough not see some of the subjects as crazy looms against Coca-Cola. Most of the facts simply didn’t have enough evidence to connect the dots, especially with Colombian murders and water in India. I think the messaging would have been more effective if the 2nd half of the book was a dedicated book on what happens with other companies in these regions.

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2015

Great book.

There's something interesting for everyone in this book because the Coca-Cola Company is ubiquitous in the US ...

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2010

If you're planning on reading Blanding's THE COKE MACHINE there's one thing you need to be prepared for: you'll walk away from the book with a Coke jingle or two stuck in your head indefinitely. Despite this, the book is an excellent read that should be passed along to family and friends because when you're done with it you'll want to discuss it.

From a purely aesthetic point of view, THE COKE MACHINE is well organized, strongly researched and superbly written. The introduction begins with a grueling story of a murdered union worker in Columbia and compels the reader to consider the complex question of corporate responsibility for moral and ethical behavior in the face of a corporation's drive toward stakeholder profits. Blanding builds momentum by describing the history of Coke, its ad campaigns, and its national struggles to resist any negative mark on its brand image. Part two weaves Coke's international story through Mexico, Colombia, India and Guatemala, raising questions about Coke's role in environmental destruction, water shortages, dismantling of unions, and even murder.

There's something interesting for everyone in this book, because the Coca-Cola Company is ubiquitous within the United States and internationally, and because it has affected all of our lives whether we realize it or not. As The Coke Machine describes, Coke has spent its more than one hundred years in existence protecting its image and sales beyond anything else; the "dirty truth" about Coke that Blanding so factually lays out before us. If you're a parent, the book's chapter on "The Battle for Schools" should not go unread. If you're a social activist, there are lessons to learn from the international labor struggles workers have suffered at the hands of Coke (or their bottlers, as Coke might argue, passing the buck on social responsibility). If you're an environmentalist, Coke's role in international water shortages and pollution as described in THE COKE MACHINE cannot be ignored. And if you're a fan of the hit AMC television series, MAD MEN, you'll undoubtedly find the chapters on advertising as deep, dark and mysterious--yet also painfully revealing--as the dapper Don Draper.

Calling on all of us to hold Coke accountable, Blanding makes the difficult task of holding a mirror up to a massive, beloved U.S. based corporation look easy through his use of strong interviewing and writing skills. The question remains as to a corporation's true role in its larger community: brand image and profits versus moral and ethical social responsibility. While these need not be mutually exclusive, Blanding puts Coke on serious notice, and forces all of us to question whether Coke actually "exists to refresh and benefit everyone it touches" or if its existence is about something else entirely.

Laura L. Noah's editorials have been published in the NEW YORK TIMES, THE SUN MAGAZINE AND GIRLFRIENDS MAGAZINE.

26 people found this helpful

Helpful

Firedoug

Too Long, Too Biased, and Too Repetitive

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2010

Verified Purchase

Keeping it short and sweet, my review title says it! I will give the author a great deal of credit for his research and knowledge of the Coca-Cola Co.. But honestly it gets very monotonous. The story line is simple Coke will do anything to create profit, this story line plays over and over through the whole book. Newsflash! Thats why all corporations exist. I don't believe Coca-Cola is any more evil than any other corporation, or government, or churches, or people. Very few things or people are motivated to do pure good 100% of the time, shades of grey is the human race.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful