For God, Country, and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It

by Mark Pendergrast

Overview

The fizzy, “marvelously entertaining” (Los Angeles Times) story of the world’s favorite beverage

For God, Country & Coca-Cola is the definitive history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it. From its origins as a patent medicine in Reconstruction Atlanta through its rise as the dominant consumer beverage of the American century, the story of Coke is as singular, appealing, and effervescent as the drink itself. Mark Pendergrast recounts more than a hundred years of the Coca-Cola Company with verve and a historian’s eye for the telling detail, aligning Coke’s success with the emergence of that other great American innovation—modern capitalism. 
 
With vivid portraits of the colorful cast of entrepreneurs, hustlers, swindlers, ad men, and con men who have made Coca-Cola the most recognized trademark in the world—and with a new afterword bringing the story up to today—this is business history at its best: authoritative, enlightening, and fun. Like Coke itself, For God, Country and Coca-Cola is “The Real Thing.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541606012
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	09/24/2024
Pages:	576
Sales rank:	780,709
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mark Pendergrast, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, grew up on West Paces Ferry Road, once known as “Coca-Cola Row.” Pendergrast is also the author of Uncommon Grounds and many other books. He lives in Vermont.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Prologue: A Parable (January 1, 1985) 1

Part I In the Beginning (1886-1899)

1 Time Capsule: The Golden Age of Quackery 7

2 What Sigmund Freud, Pope Leo, and John Pemberton Had in Common 16

3 The Tangled Chain of Title 32

4 Asa Candler: His Triumphs and Headaches 45

5 Bottle It: The World's Stupidest, Smartest Contract 66

Part II Heretics and True Believers (1900-1922)

6 Success Under Siege 83

7 Dr. Wiley Weighs In 101

8 The Sinister Syndicate 116

9 Coca-Cola's Civil War 128

Part III The Golden Age (1923-1949)

10 Robert W. Woodruff: The Boss Takes the Helm 143

11 A Euphoric Depression and Pepsi's Push 162

12 The $4,000 Bottle: Coca-Cola Goes to War 184

13 Coca-Cola Über Alles 201

Part IV Trouble in the Promised Land (1950-1979)

14 Coca-Colonization and the Communists 219

15 Breaking the Commandments 233

16 Paul Austin's Turbulent Sixties 256

17 Big Red's Uneasy Slumber 277

Part V The Go-Go Goizueta Era (1980-1997)

18 Roberto Goizueta's Bottom Line 309

19 The Marketing Blunder of the Century 328

20 The Big Red Machine 344

21 Global Fizz 367

Part VI Quenching All Thirsts (1997-2013)

22 Ivester Inherits a World of Trouble 399

23 Daft Dilemmas 413

24 Turnaround 435

25 Surging Ahead 451

26 World Without End? 470

Appendix 1 The Sacred Formula 487

Appendix 2 Coca-Cola Magic: Thirty-Five Business Lessons 494

Note on Sources 502

Acknowledgments 506

Index 507

Editorial Reviews

``Unauthorized'' it may be, but freelance business journalist Pendergrast, granted access to Coca-Cola company files, has produced an entertaining, fair-minded history without much scandal. He traces the roots of ``the world's most widely distributed product'' as a patent medicine, describes the development of the unique ``Hobbleskirt'' bottle and depicts the canny use of advertising, which enabled Coke to ``permeate every aspect of American life.'' He also covers the work of legendary company leader Robert Woodruff, Coke's quasi-military expansion during WW II, the growing competition from Pepsi and the company's ill-fated mid-1980s reformulation of the Coke recipe. If the book doesn't always make for smooth reading, it has many amusing details: lists of the names of Coke imitators (``Revive-ola,'' ``Toka-tona''); the antics of a biology professor who, acting as a Coca-Cola defense witness, ingested bugs marinated in the drink; a hilarious glimpse of football star Mean Joe Greene filming a commercial for which he chugged down 18 Cokes, even though he vomited after the sixth. Photos not seen by PW. Reader's Digest Condensed Books selection. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Coca-Cola is one of the most celebrated products of this century. The trials and successes of Coke and its manufacturer, ranging from its invention to the wars with Pepsi, unfold in a historical narrative that keeps the reader focused and interested. Pendergrast, a business journalist, displays an impressive array of research from several collections and interviews with former company employees. The premise that Coca-Cola has religious undertones is somewhat far-fetched, but the author does an able job of proving that Coke is an American phenomenon. The last chapter, however, would have benefited from editing to make the transition from third to first person flow more smoothly. Recommended for general collections.-- Rebecca A. Smith, Harvard Business Sch. Lib.

Library Journal

A scholar and journalist investigating popular vices<-->incest and coffee previously<-->Pendergrast here chronicles the US soft drink from its invention as a cocaine-laced patent medicine in the Gilded Age to its global ubiquity as a symbol of consumer capitalism. To the 1996 edition he has added the original secret formula, 30 early company management lessons, and other tidbits that have been published since. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

A NEW YORK TIMES “NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR”

“A ripping good story of more than a soft drink or a company, this book is about the whole of America. It may be the greatest American story ever.”—New York Observer

“Marvelously entertaining history.”—Los Angeles Times

“In For God, Country & Coca-Cola, Mark Pendergrast has written an encyclopedic history of Coke and its subculture, and used Coca-Cola as a metaphor for the growth of modern capitalism itself. His research and storytelling skills are prodigious.”—Washington Post

“Behind the glitz and fanfare, the bubbly brown beverage has had a tortured and controversy-filled history. It is meticulously chronicled in For God, Country & Coca-Cola.”—Wall Street Journal

“A meticulously researched history...[Pendergrast] aggressively sets the record straight about the birth of Coke, shattering company myths.”—New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher