Jungle Capitalists : A Story of Globalisation, Greed and Revolution

In this powerful and gripping book, Peter Chapman shows how the pioneering example of the importer United Fruit set the precedent for the institutionalised greed of today's multinational companies.

The story has its source in the importer United Fruit's 19th Century beginnings in the jungles of Costa Rica. It moves via the mass-marketing of the banana as the original fast food, United Fruit's involvement in an invasion of Honduras, a massacre in Columbia and a bloody coup in Guatemala, and the very public suicide on Park Avenue of the company's chairman, Eli Black, in the 1970s.

From its bullying business practices to its covert links to the US government, United Fruit blazed the trail of global capitalism through the 20th Century.

Chapman weaves a dramatic tale of big business, lies and power to show how one company pioneered the growth of globalisation.

Praise for Jungle Capitalists:

'Any tinpot regime these days tends to get called a banana republic. We have to remember they were real, vicious and bloody regimes set up and toppled at the behest of US fruit companies. Those corporations gave globalization a bad name before we even used the term, and Peter Chapman's racy but erudite read constantly makes you wonder how much has changed. Sadly today the banana seems to be a good deal more threatened than the corporations that abused it.'

New Scientist

'The true story of a corrupt banana company provides a powerful illustration of the pitfalls of globalisation.'

Financial Times

'The term banana republic has become so divested of meaning that it's been adopted by a mid-range clothing chain. Its sobering reality is spelled out in this clear, dryly witty account of United Fruit.'

Metro