
The Fish That Ate the Whale
The Life and Times of America's Banana King
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Narrated by:
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Robertson Dean
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By:
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Rich Cohen
About this listen
Named a Best Book of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle and The Times-Picayune
The fascinating untold tale of Samuel Zemurray, the self-made banana mogul who went from penniless roadside banana peddler to kingmaker and capitalist revolutionary
When Samuel Zemurray arrived in America in 1891, he was tall, gangly, and penniless. When he died in the grandest house in New Orleans sixty-nine years later, he was among the richest, most powerful men in the world. Working his way up from a roadside fruit peddler to conquering the United Fruit Company, Zemurray became a symbol of the best and worst of the United States: proof that America is the land of opportunity, but also a classic example of the corporate pirate who treats foreign nations as the backdrop for his adventures.
Zemurray lived one of the great untold stories of the last hundred years. Starting with nothing but a cart of freckled bananas, he built a sprawling empire of banana cowboys, mercenary soldiers, Honduran peasants, CIA agents, and American statesmen. From hustling on the docks of New Orleans to overthrowing Central American governments and precipitating the bloody thirty-six-year Guatemalan civil war, the Banana Man lived a monumental and sometimes dastardly life. Rich Cohen's brilliant historical profile The Fish That Ate the Whale unveils Zemurray as a hidden power broker, driven by an indomitable will to succeed.
©2012 Rich Cohen (P)2024 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“This is a rollicking but brilliantly researched book about one of the most fascinating characters of the twentieth century. I grew up in New Orleans enthralled by tales of Sam Zemurray, the banana peddler who built United Fruit. This book recounts, with delightful verve, his military and diplomatic maneuvers in Central America and his colorful life and business practices.”—Walter Isaacson, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute and author of Steve Jobs
“Cohen ... gives us the fascinating tale of ‘Sam the Banana Man,' a poor Russian Jew who emigrated to Alabama as a teenager and ended up controlling much of Central America . . . Rich Cohen books constitute a genre unto themselves: pungent, breezy, vividly written psychodramas about rough-edged, tough-minded Jewish machers who vanquish their rivals, and sometimes change the world in the process. Within this specialized context, Cohen's Zemurray biography admirably fills the bill.”—Mark Lewis, The New York Times Book Review
“Absorbing, nimble and unapologetically affectionate . . . Mr. Cohen is a wonderfully visceral storyteller . . . it's a magnificent, crazy story, engagingly told.”—Aaron Gell, New York Observer
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- Narrated by: Madison Niederhauser, Oliver Hunt
- Length: 31 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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An interesting set of introductions.
- By Kevin Potter on 05-30-19
By: Scott Lewis
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Fingerprints of the Gods
- The Quest Continues
- By: Graham Hancock
- Narrated by: Graham Hancock
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Fingerprints of the Gods is the revolutionary rewrite of history that has persuaded millions of listeners throughout the world to change their preconceptions about the history behind modern society. An intellectual detective story, this unique history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain.
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Classic in Historical Mysteries
- By Kelly on 09-05-19
By: Graham Hancock
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Phil Jackson accuses Red Auerbach of cheap tactics
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Lots of fun and rewarding
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Dark Sun
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Here, for the first time, in a brilliant, panoramic portrait by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, is the definitive, often shocking story of the politics and the science behind the development of the hydrogen bomb and the birth of the Cold War. Based on secret files in the United States and the former Soviet Union, this monumental work of history discloses how and why the United States decided to create the bomb that would dominate world politics for more than forty years.
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OK if you like politics, not good for the science
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The Sun & the Moon & the Rolling Stones
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A book inspired by a lifelong appreciation of the music that borders on obsession, Rich Cohen’s fresh and galvanizing narrative history of the Rolling Stones begins with the fateful meeting of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on a train platform in 1961 - and goes on to span decades, with a focus on the golden run - from the albums Beggars Banquet (1968) to Exile on Main Street (1972) - when the Stones were at the height of their powers.
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My eyes hurt from constantly rolling them.
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What listeners say about The Fish That Ate the Whale
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-17-25
Fascinating!
Everything! Don’t judge a book by its cover! Who would of thoughts bananas gangsters existed!
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- DDM
- 12-31-24
Really intriguing story
Very engaging + inspiring, yet a good cautionary tale. Pretty balanced take about a nuanced American icon
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- Ann
- 01-17-25
Phenomenal
Wonderfully written. A phenomenal business biography on par with Chernow’s Titan and Caro’s Power Broker.
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- A. SOS
- 12-16-24
What a life?!
A fascinating tale from a bygone era. Sam Zemurray led a compete life - from the jungles of the isthmus in Central America to the elite of corporate America intersecting w the apex of government.
A worthwhile story indeed.
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- Stephanie M. Hasty
- 01-02-25
The More You Know...
I love a great biography...I love a well researched microhistory. This book is both and it tells of an America built on grit, and, well unbridled capitalism. Who knew that bananas were so exciting?!
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