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

by Pendergrast, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780465054688
• ISBN10: 0465054684
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-03-16
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

For God, Country and Coca-Colais the unauthorized 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 unique, tasty, and effervescent as the drink itself. With vivid portraits of the entrepreneurs who founded the companyand of the colorful cast of hustlers, swindlers, ad men, and con men who have made Coca-Cola the most recognized trademark in the worldthis is business history at its best: in fact, "The Real Thing."

Author Biography

Mark Pendergrast was born in Atlanta and is a graduate of Harvard University. A business journalist, he has published articles and reviews in a number of magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, the Sunday Times (London), and Financial Analyst.

Table of Contents

Notes on the Text	ix
Preface to the First Edition	xi
Preface to the Revised Edition	xiii
Prologue: A Parable (January 1, 1985)	1	(2)
Part I: In the Beginning (1886--1899)	3	(80)
Time Capsule: The Golden Age of Quackery	7	(10)
What Sigmund Freud, Pope Leo, and John Pemberton Had in Common	17	(17)
The Tangled Chain of Title	34	(13)
Asa Candler: His Triumphs and Headaches	47	(22)
Bottle It: The World's Stupidest, Smartest Contract	69	(14)
Part II: Heretics and True Believers (1900--1922)	83	(64)
Success Under Siege	87	(20)
Dr Wiley Weighs In	107	(16)
The Sinister Syndicate	123	(12)
Coca-Cola's Civil War	135	(12)
Part III: The Golden Age (1923--1949)	147	(80)
The Boss Takes the Helm	151	(21)
Robert W. Woodruff
A Euphoric Depression and Pepsi's Push	172	(23)
The $4,000 Bottle: Coca-Cola Goes to War	195	(18)
Coca-Cola ber Alles	213	(14)
Part IV: Trouble in the Promised Land (1950--1979)	227	(96)
Coca-Colonization and the Communists	231	(15)
Breaking the Commandments	246	(25)
Paul Austin's Turbulent Sixties	271	(22)
Big Red's Uneasy Slumber	293	(30)
Part V: The Corporate Era (1980--1999)	323	(133)
Roberto Goizueta's Bottom Line	327	(20)
The Marketing Blunder of the Century	347	(17)
The Big Red Machine	364	(26)
Global Fizz	390	(34)
Ivester Inherits a World of Trouble	424	(16)
World Without End?	440	(16)
Appendix 1: The Sacred Formula	456	(5)
Appendix 2: Coca-Cola Magic: Thirty Business Lessons	461	(8)
Notes	469	(114)
Bibliography	583	(10)
Interviews	593	(3)
Acknowledgments to First Edition	596	(3)
Acknowledgments to Revised Edition	599	(2)
Index	601