The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King

THE FISH THAT ATE THE WHALE: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King | Rich Cohen, Picador (2013), p288. In 'The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King,' Rich Cohen delivers a biography of Samuel Zemurray with a narrative zest reminiscent of a picaresque novel. Published in 2013 by Picador, Cohen's work delves into the murky waters of the banana trade. It reveals the improbable saga of Zemurray, a Russian-Jewish immigrant who clawed his way to the zenith of this slippery industry. Zemurray's story is no mere Horatio Alger tale; it's a narrative drenched in the sweat and opportunism that forged American capitalism. Cohen begins this tale by painting the squalor and bigotry faced by Jewish immigrants in the early 1900s. This sets the stage for Zemurray's relentless pursuit of the American Dream. Cohen’s portrayal is unsentimental, yet it brilliantly captures the grit and guile of a man who refused to succumb to prejudice. Zemurray’s foray into the banana business is narrated with adventure verve. Here, Cohen is at his descriptive peak, illustrating how Zemurray upended the industry with innovation and sheer audacity. The Banana King’s business exploits are more than a testament to individual brilliance; they indict the Darwinian underbelly of American enterprise. Cohen's characterization of Zemurray is a masterclass in biographical nuance. He emerges not merely as a titan of the industry, but as a man ablaze with ambition, his character etched with Shakespearean flaws and fervor. Here was a man who could charm and chill with equal aplomb, a magnetic and menacing figure. The book also offers a voyeuristic glimpse into the labyrinthine banana trade world, a saga of cutthroat competition and political intrigue. Cohen's prose brings to life the tropical plantations, the labyrinthine logistics of fruit transportation, and the pulsating ports in a relentless narrative that's as rich as it is. Cohen delves deep into the intricate filial dynamics of the Zemurray household, illuminating the complex relationship between Zemurray and his son, Julius. The familial drama, fraught with tension and ambition, adds depth to this captivating tale. The book reflects the frenetic pace of Zemurray's Odyssey. It sweeps through its subject's eras yet pauses to savor some of the most vital moments in his life. Throughout the book, Cohen combines erudition and accessibility to ensure that a broad audience understands and feels Zemurray's Odyssey. More than a biography, 'The Fish That Ate the Whale' explores the explosive mix of ambition, innovation, and ruthlessness that led to the American Dream. Cohen's Sam Zemurray chronicle illustrates the allure and danger of unchecked ambition. It is an indispensable book for anyone passionate about business history, human society, and the human spirit. QUOTES * "The fish that ate the whale" - a reference to Zemurray's remarkable rise to power and influence in the banana industry * "He was a man of great appetites, and he never satisfied any of them" - a description of Zemurray's insatiable hunger for success and power * "The United Fruit Company was not just a business; it was a state of mind" - a reflection on the all-encompassing nature of Zemurray's business empire and its impact on his personal life and relationships. * "Samuel Zemurray was a man who liked to play God.” - This quote suggests that Zemurray had a strong desire to control and manipulate those around him and often acted with a sense of entitlement and arrogance. * "He was a man who believed in the power of money to solve problems.” - This quote highlights Zemurray’s belief in the ability of money to overcome obstacles and achieve his goals and how he was willing to spend large sums of money to further his interests. * "Zemurray was a man who loved to gamble.” This quote suggests that Zemurray enjoyed taking risks and gambling, both in business and in his personal life, and that this willingness to take risks helped him achieve his goals. * "He was a man who hated to lose.” - This quote highlights Zemurray's competitive nature and how he hated to lose, whether it was in business, politics, or personal relationships. * "Zemurray was a man who believed in the power of the press.” - This quote suggests that Zemurray understood the importance of media coverage and public relations in promoting his business interests and shaping public opinion. * "He was a man who loved to make deals.” - This quote highlights Zemurray’s enjoyment of negotiating and making deals and how he used his charm and charisma to persuade others to see things his way. * "Zemurray was a man who believed in the power of the American dream.” - This quote suggests that Zemurray believed in the idea of the American dream, which holds that anyone can succeed if they work hard enough and are determined enough and that he saw himself as a living embodiment of this ideal.

Several years ago, I flew into Detroit at night and caught a cab to my hotel in the city. The cab driver was from one of those countries in Africa described as “war-torn.” He told me about his odyssey moving through several countries to the United States. He proudly showed me the book he was studying to become an American citizen. I asked him why he didn’t stop in one of those countries along the way. At that, he waved his arm across the entire vision of the lighted city of Detroit in front of us. “Here,” he said, “you can do anything!” I’d bet that by today he’s got his citizenship and started a business. It’s the great American immigrant story. It’s also the story of The Fish That Ate the Whale and Sam Zemurray. He arrived in the United States in 1891, from Russia. The Fish That Ate the Whale is the story of how he became the Banana King. One reason I love reading books of business history and biography is that they usually tell a rollicking story that also has lessons in it. Rich Cohen’s book is no exception. You’ll learn about things you may not have been curious about before. Cohen tells us a lot about the Jewish immigration to the American South in the early 20th century and how many great business empires started there. If you’re interested in something more scientific, there’s a lot of detail on the varieties of bananas and their characteristics and the entire banana business. Zemurray started out selling bananas he bought on the docks in New Orleans and had to transport quickly to other towns before they spoiled. He saw an opportunity in being quick with a product that other people thought was useless. The business was successful and Zemurray became an expert in the cultivation of bananas. Mostly, he became an expert in the banana business. This book has got lots of lessons about business strategy and negotiation. You’ll read about business cycles and how you prepare for them so they don’t ruin you. You’ll learn about the difference between an entrepreneurial, there’s always a solution, spirit, like Zemurray’s, and the caretaker second and third generations. I love the story of the way Zemurray “ate the whale” and took over the United Fruit Company. They had bought out his company to eliminate him as a competitor, but a generation of professional managers and trust fund kids was ruining the company, and it made Zemurray angry. First, he tried to help by offering suggestions. The professional managers ignored them. Zemurray was just an immigrant with a thick Russian accent. So, Sam Zemurray did something characteristic of his life. He looked for another way. He quietly gathered proxies. Then, he went to a shareholder’s meeting of United Fruit. He calmly waited for his turn to speak. When it came, he offered suggestions on making the company better, and the directors ridiculed him. They even made fun of his accent. One of them said, “I can’t understand a word you’re saying.” Zemurray left the room and got the proxies he’d accumulated. Then, he stormed back in to the meeting room, threw the proxies on the table, and looked at the people who had made fun of him. Then, still in a thick Russian accent, he said “You’re fired! Do you understand that?” If you like a book that tells stories like that, The Fish That Ate the Whale is a book for you. As you read the story, you’ll pick up lessons in business. You’ll learn about an incredible period in American and business history that hasn’t received much coverage. You’ll get great quotes and a few oddities, like how William Sydney Porter came up with the term “banana republic.” The story does not have a happy ending. You’ll read about how the company went downhill, how the CIA used it as a tool of policy in Central America, and how Zemurray, who could solve any problem, couldn’t solve the problem of succession. There are some things you may not like about this book. If you don’t like long digressions into details, like the history of bananas or the history of Jewish shopkeepers in the American South, you probably won’t like this book very much. If you’re looking for clearly-articulated business lessons, this isn’t the book for you, either. With a few exceptions, Cohen embeds the lessons in the story. Bottom Line The Fish That Ate the Whale is a great book about the United Fruit Company, Sam Zemurray, and American business and foreign policy in the early 20th century.

I loved this book. In fact, Rich Cohen’s “The Fish that Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King” just might make it into my non-fiction book Hall of Fame, an honored group of the best, most engaging pieces of history and biography that I’ve ever read. Why such high praise? Well, mainly because “The Fish” delivered and succeeded on multiple dimensions. First, I love learning about different industries and commodities, how they developed over time, often over millennia, shaping world markets and modern political economies (e.g. cotton, gold, salt, cod, petroleum). “The Fish” provides a fascinating introduction to the world of bananas, a fruit that every American today knows and most of whom love on their breakfast cereal or as a mid-day, nutritious snack. Only, as I learned, bananas aren’t actually a fruit and little more than a century ago they were far from common, but rather quite exotic, a true luxury, displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition to crowds of gawking onlookers as if it came from another planet. Indeed, according to the author, a banana in 1900 was as unusual to the average American as an African cucumber is today. There’s a lot about the very familiar banana that I never knew. For instance, Cohen explains that the banana tree is actually the world’s largest herb, and thus its offspring, the banana, are technically berries. Even more fascinating, bananas grow from rhizomes, not seeds. In other words, cut appendages continue to grow, replicating the original. As Cohen describes it: “When you look at a banana, you’re looking at every banana, an infinite regression. There are no mutts, only the first fruit of a particular species and billions of copies. Every banana is a clone, in other words, a replica of an ur-banana that weighed on its stalk the first morning of man.” Believe it or not, the story of the banana gets even crazier. If you’ve ever wondered why old black-and-white films joked about slipping on a banana peel even though the banana peel that you’ve long known doesn’t feel particularly slippery, that’s because we have completely different bananas today. In the early nineteenth century, Americans were introduced to the “Big Mike,” a variety of banana that went extinct in 1965. It was bigger, tastier and more robust than the bananas we have today, according to Cohen, and their peels were far more slippery. The bananas we eat today are known as “Cavendish,” their primary benefit being immunity to the Panama disease that wiped out the Big Mike. Again, because bananas are all exact genetic copies, they are highly susceptible to rapid eradication from disease. Second, I’m a sucker for a great rags-to-riches story. The tale of Samuel Zemurray delivers that in spades. He arrived in America in 1891, a penniless Jew from what today is Moldova, and settled in the Deep South. (It may surprise many Americans but the South was far more hospitable to Jews for most our history. For instance, Jefferson Davis had two Jews in his Cabinet; Lincoln had none.) While still in his teens Zemurray recognized a business opportunity where other only saw trash: the ripe bananas that Boston Fruit discarded along the rail line in Mobile, Alabama before shipping off to Chicago and other northern metropolitan destinations. Zemurray was a natural entrepreneur; he had no particular affinity for bananas, it was just the opportunity at hand. “If he had settled in Chicago,” Cohen writes, “it would have been beef; if Pittsburgh, steel; if L.A., movies.” Zemurray quickly turned one man’s trash into cash, renting a boxcar to carry the castoff bananas along the slow rail route through the South, selling his cargo to local merchants at each Podunk rail stop until either his inventory ran out or spoiled. From such humble beginnings did a great international trading company eventually take root, Cuyamel Fruit, named after the river separating Honduras and Guatemala, the heartland of banana growing. By 1925, Cuyamel Fruit Company, the creation of an upstart Jewish immigrant banana jobber, had emerged as a serious threat to United Fruit, the undisputed king of the industry, a company that was led by Boston’s best, the sons of Brahmins. The threat was not because of Cuyamel’s size. In most ways United Fruit still dominated its aggressive rival (i.e. United Fruit was harvesting 40 million bunches a year with 150,000 employees and working capital of $27m, compared to Cuyamel’s 8 million bunches, 10,000 employees and $3m in working capital). The threat was that Cuyamel was a better run business and more innovative, leading the way with selective pruning, drainage, silting, staking and overhead irrigation. “U.F. was a conglomerate, a collection of firms bought up and slapped together,” Cohen writes. Cuyamel, by contrast, was a well-oiled machine, vertically integrated and led from the front by Zemurray, the ultimate owner-manager-worker. Cuyamel’s success was certainly no accident. It was the product of hard work, an obsessed owner-operator who understood his business at a visceral level, a skill earned over decades of hard, unglamorous work. Zemurray adhered to his own, classically American immigrant code of conduct: “get up first, work harder, get your hands in the dirt and the blood in your eyes.” Cohen describes his commitment and ultimate advantage this way: “Zemurray worked in the fields beside his engineers, planters, and machete men. He was deep in the muck, sweat covered, swinging a blade. He helped map the plantations, plant the rhizomes, clear the weeds, lay the track…unlike most of his competitors, he understood every part of the business, from the executive suite where the stock was manipulated to the ripening room where the green fruit turned yellow…By the time he was forty, he had served in every position from fruit jobber to boss. He worked on the docks, on the ships and railroads, in the fields and warehouses. He had ridden the mules. He had managed the fruit and money, the mercenaries and government men. He understood the meaning of every change in the weather, the significance of every date on the calendar.” Indeed, dedicated immigrants like Sam Zemurray have made America great. There’s nothing wrong with doing grunt work. In fact, it’s essential. United Fruit bought out Cuyamel in the early days of the stock market crash of 1929, when the former had a market share of 54% to the latter’s 14%. United Fruit’s profit was some $45m and its stock price $108. By 1932, profit was down to $6m and the stock languished at $10.25. “The company was caught in a death spiral,” according to Cohen. By January 1933, Zemurray used his massive stake and proxy votes to take over the company, claiming “I realized that the greatest mistake the United Fruit management had made was to assume it could run its activities in many tropical countries from an office on the 10th floor of a Boston office building.” The immigrant with dirt under his nails and a rumbled jacket knew the business better than the Ivy Leaguers with manicures and pinstriped suits. Indeed, the fish (Cuyamel Fruit) was swallowing the whale (United Fruit). Zemurray would run the company until 1951, arguably the most successful years of its history. In 1950, the company cleared $66m in profit. By 1960, profits would fall to just $2m. United Fruit collapsed, eventually restructuring and reinventing itself as Chiquita Brands, based in Cincinnati. When Zemurray started in the industry at the turn of the century, bananas were curiosities, a sidebar trade, something for the rich. By the time he retired, bananas were part of the daily American fabric, the interests of the industry consistent with that of political leadership in Washington. Indeed, some of the most illustrious and powerful men in government had close connections to United Fruit during the Zemurray era: CIA director Allen Dulles (member of the board of directors), secretary of state John Foster Dulles (U.F. legal counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell), New Deal fixer Tom Corcoran (paid lobbyist), UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge (large shareholder), among others. By the 1950s, Cohen writes, “it was hard to tell where the government ended and the company began.” At its height, Cohen says, United Fruit was “as ubiquitous as Google and as feared as Halliburton.” For anyone interested in business history, American politics in Central America or the development of the global fruit industry, “The Fish that Ate the Whale” is a book to own and savor.

Sam Zemurray walks into a jungle, grows a product, becomes a giant. He takes over companies, a market, a continent. He becomes a political problem. He rescues a nation. And he becomes a rich man, a legend, finally a great story. You travel the whole thing with him, under the big sun and with the smells of the jungle and the rolling train compartments and the central air in the boardrooms. You see him grow from a lanky green immigrant kid--Cohen describes him as tall and hard-eyed, and you keep seeing Sam as John Wayne, or like George Clooney--to a rolled-sleeve powerhouse on the plantations to a man in a suit in the corridors of power, the most dangerous of all. Rich Cohen is telling a great story, an adventure story. You look at the things you want. You imagine going out to get them; then you do get them and what does it mean to you and do to you? What does it mean for your family--the people you live with, the ones you leave behind with the money? It's The Godfather with Bananas. It's also any life, in bigger letters. And it's the business, how the banana traveled from jungle to your table; that's Sam Zemurray there, in your cabinet, who got the fruit sliced onto your cereal, in your yoghurt at the brunch place. In the book Cohen takes you across the picturebook South--farms and piers and sly deckhands--to palmy New Orleans and then into the tropics, the messy place we go to extract the good stuff. Manpower, resources, money, all to be spent and converted to power back in the necktie regions. The book gives you everything. The jungles. Gun fights on the plantations. Rickety airplanes. The stacks of money, the anxious men in offices and D.C., the agents, ultimatums. Mercenaries and revolutions. (And a great word, for people whose job it was to go out and raise a ruckus for pay in the shadowy parts of the world: Revolutin'.) Sam Zemurray walked out of his old life as an underdog and lowered his head to do the work and came back with everyone's world changed and himself somehow different. And with America's role in the world different too. The fact that this whole story is in a peel and sitting on your breakfast plate is something else again; it's like having Sam Zemurray there, first thing, asking what you are going to be up to today. And it brings back scenes from the story. The nights, the mercenaries, the growers, the battles, the big houses, the small children, the anxious meetings, the achievements, all moving from the jungle to the boats to your own house. An amazing book.

I was skeptical when starting the Kindle sample. I love business bios, but who cares about bananas? What a great surprise, a book that keeps on giving, even when you think it's over. Each time you think Sam is out and done, there is more, and author Cohen finds another dimension to open. Aside from the colorful banana business history, there is New Orleans, central America, staged coups, CIA & J.F. Dulles, Bay of Pigs, American business history, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, the Israeli war of independence and more. It's a great American success story that parallels US influence and hubris around the globe. Not to be overlooked is the author's first person writing style, with editorial comments and humorous quips. Rather than a dry narrative, he brings to life the fascinating subject (Sam) and how he approached the world. One of my most memorable non-fiction reads and highly recommended.

As far as business biographies goes, this is one of the most fascinating and storied lives I have ever read about. Samuel Zemurray led a fascinating life, and the author covers much of the material well and presents it a very engaging way. Unfortunately, there are also some choices the author makes that detract from the book and the story of Zemurray's life, but not enough to warrant skipping it. Sam Zemurray is accurately described by the author as a sort of quintessential American story. He was born in Russia, but moved to the United States when he was just fifteen years old. He knew that he wanted to be a businessman, and set off in search of a product. He fell in love with bananas, a brand new fruit to the United States, and started his business by buying the discards that no one else wanted. From there he built his small company into the second largest, best run banana company in the world. Bananas might not seem like much now, they certainly didn't to me, but the banana industry was one of the largest industries in his time, controlling governments, shipping channels, and entire continents. Sam himself had a hand in overthrowing governments, defying U.S. presidents, and using guerrilla warfare to grow his business. He eventually sold his business, retired, took over another business, resurrected the banana trade and saved it for years, helped Israel become a country once again, and much more. His life and his influence were unmatched in the South American world at the time, and he had a hand in almost everything. Fascinating story of someone who has been largely forgotten. By itself, the book is a great read and highly recommended. But there are several times the author takes his style of writing and pushes the envelope too far. He hypothesizes too often about Sam's thoughts, references his other books, and inserts himself into the story in an annoying way. He's a gifted writer who has really condensed Zemurray's life down and made it a great read . . . but it what it is a great, highly recommendable book could have been even better. Buy this book and read it, highly recommended.

I loved the beginning of this book. I tore through it in one day. It reminded me of a Mary Roach novel (if you haven't read "Stiff"...It's fantastic). A story that can take sometimes lackluster topics (science & history) and give them life. Told wish some style but never overcompensating. He didn't take a history book and glue some glitter on the front. Let me be clear, I finished this book in one day. At one point, I wanted to stop reading because I knew it was going to be over soon. I want to be clear, I really enjoyed this book. There are three things that took this book from 5 stars to 3. 1). Rich Cohen can be repetitive. I don't know how an objective editor could have not caught this. It was as if he was trying to use repitition to drill home a point but it was unnecessary. I understand how in writing this he could have become somewhat enamored of Sam. Through rose colored glassed he saw this character and lost his ability to "cut the fat" in his writing. An editor should have caught it. 2) The implantation of Rich Cohen's own opions and thoughts in the later chapters. There's a way to do this without breaking the continuity of the story. Instead of saying, "In my opinion" and then rambling on...He just needed to write his opinion without introducing it. It began to discredit the story for me. I don't take this novel as historical textbook and therefore understand that inherently it is going to have the angle of the writers opinion. He never met Sam, he didn't have these indepth conversations with Sam's wife or really any of his family or people who could have made these massive assumptions about Sam's motivations or feelings. For example, Sam's feelings in his golden years about his (lack) of religion. Which leads me to my final issue... 3) The writer clearly let his own religious affiliation effect this story. He once again makes a huge assumption that Sam had religious regrets based on some passed down stories which could or could not be true but considering the source (another Jewish person in the South) they could be complete rhetoric. When looking at this Amazon page, ALL of the overly positive reviews from critics (at the top) are all Jewish people too. I have absolutely no problem with the Jewish religion- I only bring this up because I think it discredits this novel. Rich Cohen is telling another man's story. He didn't need to repeatedly insert himself, his opinon, or his religion into the story. I understand how it happened but it's a failure by the editor and the publishing company to have allowed it to happen.

This book is about the life of Samuel Zemurray, the Banana King. You know the phrase, "Banana Republic", well Sam invented it. Let me first say that I'm embarrassed to say I've never heard of the man before reading the book, and yet his business accomplishments rank right up there with the greats. When you look back at the turn of the 19th century, these were the years of the business titans. Rockefeller with Oil, Carnegie with Steel, JP Morgan with Electricity, Ford with Automobiles, Vanderbilt with Railroads, and Sam Zemurray with Bananas. Sam immigrated to America in 1891 with absolutely nothing and became one of the richest men in the world. Sam made his fortune in the banana business. He started at the very bottom and due to his relentless worth ethic and lack of ethics, rose to the top. To give you a sense of the size and scope of his control later in life: By 1942, Sam via his interests in the United Fruit Company owned and controlled 75% of all private land in Guatemala, controlled 75% of all trade, and owned almost all of the roads, power stations, phone lines, seaports, and every mile of railroad in Guatemala. And this is just one country. The reason most of us have never heard of Sam Zemurray is the tactics he used to gain such power and influence and the things he was willing to do to protect it. Such as literally hiring a private army to overthrow the government of Honduras in 1911, and overthrowing the government in Guatemala in 1953 (with the support of the US Government!). Sam had just as many US government officials on the payroll as he had employees. The book reads like a novel, and as soon as I picked it up I couldn't put it down. The book provides a great history on the fruit trade and the rise of Sam Zemurray, The Banana King.

Es una de esas historias en que la realidad supera a la ficción. Un hombre hecho a sí mismo, que crea un imperio comprando a su principal competidor, mucho mayor que su empresa. Organiza revoluciones en varios países, depone gobiernos, soborna presidentes de estado, manipula servicios secretos. Un aventurero como lo eran Cortés o Pizarro. Una gran historia que merecía ser contada con sus luces y sombras.

I would never have thought that a book about the banana/ fruit industry could be so interesting. Nor would I have imagined the intrigue and sculduggery involved in the industry. Certainly an engaging read.

Holy s*** this book is excellent. The best business book I read in 2014. This is the insane untold tale of Samuel Zemurray, the self-made banana mogul from Russia who went from penniless roadside banana peddler to kingmaker and capitalist revolutionary. It reads like a James Bond tale. It’s insider’s look at the American Dream filled with great insights on business strategy, leadership and even geopolitics. The story hit me even harder, when I realized my hostel during a vacay in December in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica sat right next to a banana plantation. Costa Rica is the birthplace of United Fruit (The Google of the 50’s). You will also have a desire to visit New Orleans after reading this. Going to have to read the authors other books.

Rich Cohen surely is a master storyteller. The biography is fast-paced and the life of Sam Zemurray, The Banana Man, captivating. You will learn so much reading on his life—on business most importantly, but also history, Central America and geopolitics in the region. The author makes a great job exposing the facts leaving you free to make your own opinion on the controversies. I loved that book and came to love the man too. Thanks Mr Cohen!

Provides inside view on lives and times of a robber baron. You start off cheering for the underdog - Russian Jewish immigrant Sam zemurray who found a opportunity in selling over ripe bananas and eventually took over the largest fruit company of the world. He fired the very WASP chairman of the board who was sneering at his accent with the zinger “You’re fired! Can you understand that, Mr. Chairman?” Then shady stuff starts from funding and directing a coup in Honduras (against US government wishes) to manufacturing a communist threat in Guatemala (usual suspects like new york times involved) leading to a CIA led coup. There were unintended consequences like Che Guevara and Cuba and a wake of destruction left behind. In later life, sam zemurray did a lot of good for both USA and the Central American countries - funding the Tulane University, professorship at Harvard, in central America - many hospitals, highways, power grids, seawalls, levees, orphanages and schools. Question is was it enough?