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Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World Paperback – Illustrated, December 30, 2008

by Dan Koeppel (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 458 ratings
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In the vein of Mark Kurlansky's bestselling Salt and Cod, a gripping chronicle of the myth, mystery, and uncertain fate of the world’s most popular fruit

In this fascinating and surprising exploration of the banana’s history, cultural significance, and endangered future, award-winning journalist Dan Koeppel gives readers plenty of food for thought. Fast-paced and highly entertaining, Banana takes us from jungle to supermarket, from corporate boardrooms to kitchen tables around the world. We begin in the Garden of Eden—examining scholars’ belief that Eve’s “apple” was actually a banana— and travel to early-twentieth-century Central America, where aptly named “banana republics” rose and fell over the crop, while the companies now known as Chiquita and Dole conquered the marketplace. Koeppel then chronicles the banana’s path to the present, ultimately—and most alarmingly—taking us to banana plantations across the globe that are being destroyed by a fast-moving blight, with no cure in sight—and to the high-tech labs where new bananas are literally being built in test tubes, in a race to save the world’s most beloved fruit.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Plume
  4. Publication date
    December 30, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    5.23 x 0.66 x 7.93 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9780452290082
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0452290082
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Required reading.”—New York Post
 
“Ambitious in scope… both fascinating and disturbing... I’ll never walk through the produce aisle the same way again… [Banana] is at once a political and economic treatise, a scientific explication, and a cultural history.”—The Boston Globe
 
“Clear, engaging… admirable… part historical narrative and part pop-science adventure.”—San Francisco Chronicle
 
“[A] brilliant history.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
“A fascinating and surprising history of our most ubiquitous fruit.”—Edward Humes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Monkey Girl and Mississippi Mad
 
“The history of oil has nothing on that of the yellow fruit.”—Salon.com

About the Author

Dan Koeppel, a 2011 James Beard Award winner, is a science and nature writer who has written for National Geographic, Outside, Scientific American, Wired, and other national publications. He has discussed bananas on NPR’s Fresh Air and Science Friday.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0452290082
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Plume; Reprint edition (December 30, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780452290082
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0452290082
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.23 x 0.66 x 7.93 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 458 ratings

About the author

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Dan Koeppel

Dan Koeppel

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Dan Koeppel is a former executive editor at The New York Times’s Wirecutter. He has written for national publications including Wired, Outside, National Geographic, and The Atlantic and has won a James Beard Award for his food writing. Koeppel is also a recipient of a National Geographic Expeditions Grant. His screenwriting credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, and he is the author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World. His writing has been anthologized three times in the Best American series. He grew up in Queens, New York, and now lives in Portland, Maine, with his wife, the writer Kalee Thompson, and his two young boys.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
458 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jovani
5.0 out of 5 stars The future of banana rests in our hands
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2023
Verified Purchase
I found this book very detailed despite the old release date. This fruit holds a lot of value for all parties involved in making this fruit what it is today. At the same time, who would have thought that a single item would cause such delight, joy, and pain, destruction, division - than the banana. It’s a great book to read if you are interested in learning more about the banana’s history.
One person found this helpful
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Art Is Life
4.0 out of 5 stars Who knew that the banana is on it's way out?
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2009
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Narrative non-fiction, as a technique, appeals so directly to readers that it can be used to reveal the plight of almost any animal or plant, such as America's favorite fruit, as we find out in Dan Koeppel's, Banana, The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World (Plume, 2008.) Without this book who would know that this popular fruit is in danger of disappearing because of a disease? Koeppel does a great job presenting the overlooked history of a fruit common to our grocery stores and corner markets. Most of the book focuses on the single variety of banana available in North American and European supermarkets, and provides a good overview of different banana varieties used in Africa and Asia as local food staples, and how these varieties are threatened by plant diseases. The book also delves into the historical perspective of "Banana Republics," controlled and manipulated by the powerful banana corporations in the early-mid 20th and 21st Centuries.

Koeppel's book illustrates the value of narrative non-fiction in presenting history and science at street level. As one reader remarked, "I learned more geography and science from this book than I did in high school, though I must say I wasn't the best of students. It proved to me that geography and science can be very interesting if they are put into a form that you understand," or "I picked this up on a lark, having enjoyed another micro history work on cotton. I never imagined I would be so interested in a book on bananas, but just a few pages in and I was hooked. Nice work." Other reviewers had high praise for the book and often were interested in the place in history of the banana and what the future holds.

This is just one more example of the latest trend in contemporary popular science treatises, a trend that we hope continues for a long time.
4 people found this helpful
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Shy & Loud
5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK!!
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2011
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I love this book.

This book was VERY:

interesting,

easy to read,

and mind blowing.

I recommend this book to everyone and anyone. I never write reviews, and actually, this will be my first one, because I had to make a statement that the book is awesome! Thanks so much to Dan Koeppel!!!

I originally ordered and started reading the book to research about banana's for a school project, but the book can most definitely be read just for fun. Anyone who enjoys reading and to learn, will most likely be very satisfied with this book.

Not to say less of the book, but because of it being so well written (meaning very easy to read/understand/with jokes and good examples), it can be just a time killer book to carry around or to read in the bathroom.

So many things I never knew about banana's :)

GREAT BOOK. MUST READ!!
3 people found this helpful
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Alfred Thompson
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating look at a history few of us know
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2020
Verified Purchase
A combination history and information about bananas. I loved the look at the banana itself and what makes it what it is. It was also interesting to see an unvarnished look at the business of bananas and how that impacted politics and economies. Very eye opening.

The reading style of the book was very good as well. Easy to read and stories were told in an interesting way.
One person found this helpful
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An Avid Reader
3.0 out of 5 stars indigestible
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2019
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Based on the average 4.5 star ratings (Dec 2018), I was looking forward to an INTERESTING account of the evolution of the banana in human history.

I was disappointed.

Two points of contention:

1. this writer is looking for a sensational angle which ten years after writing has not been borne out.
Our supermarkets are still offering an abundance of bananas - organic and pesticide-sprayed.
After repetitive 'doom and gloom' assertions the author's argument starts to sound hollow and false and does not add value to the information presented. His thesis is outdated. I do not get the impression it had much validity while he was collecting facts for his 260 page treatise.

2. if you are going to write a non-fiction account about the banana make it interesting. Make it EXCITING. Tell some good stories. Koeppel is no story-teller. He collects facts and regurgitates them rather than offer any deep 'aha!' analysis. Let's get some tension going in this book. Keep me glued to my chair. This book lists fact after fact and throws in some personal tragedies which are not pertinent ('Mr. X committed suicide', 'Mr. Y committed suicide).
Challenge my perspectives. Do not bore me with your platitudes. It is a very black and white rendition of 'bad, big business' is bad and its victim. Yawn. Is that the best you can offer?

Here an example of a listing of facts that did not illuminate any important fact about bananas and made reading tedious:

p. 191 in 1991, 1,650 acres of land were cultivated; the next year, the number rises to 1,892. The it drops to 1,378, rises a bit to 1,440....

Seriously, who cares?

How about:
p. 240
"But I don't think so."

Let the author present some unusual connections between the facts and then hand it back to the reader form their own opinions.

This book did not do the banana justice and I look forward to seeing a more gifted writer present this important culinary topic in a more comprehensive, less sensational, more thorough, insightful and gripping manner.

While Koeppel, fortunately, has not succeeded in spoiling my appetite for bananas, this book does not spike my interest in seeking out other books penned by him.

Maybe other members of the library will find more spark in 'Banana'. Good luck.
19 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Very intersting
Reviewed in Canada on November 29, 2020
Verified Purchase
Great story about the "taken for granted" banana and its history.
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face
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 30, 2017
Verified Purchase
a great read. great condition.
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Varun
5.0 out of 5 stars Keep ypu stick like a glue
Reviewed in India on June 19, 2016
Verified Purchase
Perfect DNA of Banana
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Rene
5.0 out of 5 stars Jeder, der Bananen mag, sollte dieses Buch lesen
Reviewed in Germany on April 11, 2016
Verified Purchase
Eine unheimlich spannende und informative Reise in die Welt der Bananenindustrie.

Kennen Sie "Gros Michel"? Nein? Das war die Bananensorte, die noch Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts in Aller Munde war, bevor sie durch einen Schimmelpilz ("Panama Disease") vernichtet wurde. der "Dicke Michael" war geschmackvoller, robuster und größer als unsere heutige "Cavendish" - was heute auf unseren Teller kommt ist ein wahrer Rückschritt.
Aber auch die Cavendish ist seit einigen Jahren wieder Bedroht - von einer Mutation des originalen Panama Disease Pilzes. Doch heute fehlt eine Ersatzsorte und die Banane, wie wir sie kennen, kann aussterben.

Was klingt wie eine Utopie ist aber tatsächlich Realität.

Dan Koeppel nimmt uns mit auf eine Reise durch die Zeit: Von der Geschichte der Banane, über den Stand der heutigen Bananenindustrie und die Auswirkungen von Monokulturen und Preiskämpfen, und gibt einen Ausblick in die Zukunft - mit oder ohne Banane.
Ein interessanter Einblick in die Welt der modernen Lebensmittelindustrie, und viele - teils unglaubliche - Informationen über eine Frucht, die wir als selbstverständlich erachten. Ein Buch für alle, die Bananen lieben und mehr darüber wissen wollen, woher die gebogene gelbe Frucht eigentlich kommt.
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C. Vremec
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've read
Reviewed in Germany on January 3, 2016
Verified Purchase
This book is a little treasure trove of information, interesting anecdotes, and open questions. I read it quickly and it stayed with me a long time, I find myself recommending it to everyone. The style is clear and easy to follow even in the more technical topics, and it covers thousand of years in a very entertaining way. A must read for everyone interested in ecology, sustainability, and dinner conversations!
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