Soft Drinks Books

I have long been fascinated by Coca Cola as a product - its world wide marketing and dominance is just mesmerising. This book takes a good look at this phenomenon and is marvellously entertaining to boot. The stories of Coke's determination to get their product to the boys at the front during the war are brilliant, and others of the war with Pepsi are highly entertaining. This is well worth your time. My husband was most sceptical, saying that it is just a giant advertisement for a soft drink. I told him not to be so difficult, and to get me a Coke.

This book include many information to understand the history and business operation of The Coca-Cola Company.Especially, an infomation of secret formula of Coca-Cola, so called 7X, was very interesting. Through the book, we can learn when and where Coca-Cola was invented,why Coca-Cola went to foreign markets, how New Coke was introduced, why Classic Coke was came back and so on.The detail footnote and bibliograhy of Mark Pendergrast also support us to study the business history of The Company.I look forward to reading the revised version of the book.

The real story behind the most famous brand in the world is an amazing trek through one of the most interesting centuries of world history. It is superbly written by a man of uncontestable credentials: Harvard B-school graduate and professional journalist who was born and raised in Atlanta. His style is both witty and informative, and while he shows his affection for everthing that the company means to the American way of life, Pendergrast never loses his keen sense of objectivity. This book should definitely be required reading for anyone interested in Pop Culture, U.S. History, Marketing, or just a great tale well told. This is by far one of the best books I have ever read.

Benjamin Zuckerman - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Explore the personalities, events, deals, and ordeals, that Coke has endured over the years. From the morphene adicted doctor who created the tonic to the modern day financial and brand building wizards, this book covers Coke in a way no other book does. The author, Mark Pendergrast, has many ties to Atlanta, and some of the historic figures in the book. This history combined with his research in to the company provies for a fantastic, presumably 100% factual doccumentary, chronicaling the history of one of the worlds most well nown companies.

I read this book and simply couldn't put it down! I bought 8 copies of it to give to family and friends as gifts. I'll never look at a Coca-Cola product the same way again. From a business or historical perspective, this is a great read!

As a major collector of Mt Dew bottles and items, I was glad to see such a comprehensive account of the Mt Dew soft drink. Most of this history has been unknown until now. Dick has gone to great lengths to research and interview those who were involved with the formulation of this brand. The many pictures and personal accounts add to the overall enjoyment and add great interest to the reader. All three of Dick's Mt Dew books are a must have for anyone interested in Mt Dew or the post WWII development of the soft drink industry in general.

This is a fascinating story, especially for those of us that live in the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina area. This book leaves no stone unturned in the search for the origin of what is now one of the most populat beverages in the U.S. Before Coke & Pepsi controlled most of the soft drink market, there were several regional bottlers in this area. This book is a great history lesson, as it brings you back to the time when drinks came in a bottle that you returned to the store, where there was often a cooler filled with ice cold water & the drinks were hung by their neck and you had to rearrange some of them to get to the flavor you wanted. Excellently researched, this is a fun read for just about anyone. It'll tickle your innards!

WOW !!! This book was long overdue. What a fascinating story of America's
third best selling soft drink. The book calls the story "a Hatfield and
McCoy feud of the braggin' rights to Mountain Dew" and now I understand
exactly what they mean. This could easily be the basis for "Oh Brother How Art Thou II".

A true story where the main characters were hard working, hard drinking bottlers ... but they are also some of the quirkiest, funniest hillbillies I've ever met.

The book is an extremely interesting read whether you care about Mountain Dew or not. I would recommend it to anyone. The story, Mountain Dew, could easily pass as one of the most entertaining case studies I've read. The book is very well researched, well documented and includes great old B/W pictures from the early years of bottling.

Oh yeah ... I also wanted to know more about how Pepsi markets Mountain Dew today. And I did. I learned all about Code Red, Livewire, Amp etc ... I even learned what happened to Mountain Dew Code Blue.

Overall, a great read !!!

I ran across my copy of The Other Guy Blinked in a box of books the other day. I hadn't read it since back when I bought it in the late 80's when the book came out in paperback. I sat down and reread it.
Not only is it a highly entertaining and insightful (if rather biased; I suspect the Coke people are better at planning strategy than Enrico gives them credit for) book on business and marketing, but it is, in 2005, a fascinating historical document of the 80's. The references to Madonna, Wham, Lionel Richie, etc. are smile-inducing and bring back memories (for those of us of a certain age) of who was popular enough in the 80's to be used in marketing campaigns to sell cola. For instance, when Enrico writes that, of course all his readers will remember how you couldn't get away from Madonna in the summer of 1985 (if I remember the year right), I had to smile. Nobody today remembers her tour way back then, but at the time the book was written, I suppose everyone would indeed have been aware of it.
The extensive coverage of Michael Jackson, on the other hand, is sort of cringe-inducing (obviously not Enrico's fault, of course; at the time, who knew?) and heavily ironic. Reading the book you can't help but see how the mighty have fallen over the years.
In sum, you get two books in one here: for 80's fans, a great historical document of 80's advertising and entertainment, and for business/marketing people, a good primer on how one very large company approached its marketing, written by the guy in charge.
I think this book is out of print but you won't go wrong buying a used copy.

This book turned out to be an excellent coverage of the Coca-
Cola and Pepsi battle. You are given excellent in views of the details that took place during this war. You are also shown some of the main characters that helped to make this story a business
happening during this time.All in all a very good book that will
give you an interesting insight to this battle between the soft drink giants.

This interesting book on Pepsi, and Coke-a-cola, is really interesting

We found this book in the library one day and we checked it out so many times, I decided to just buy it. The boys I babysit (4 1/2, 2 1/2) love this story and love to shake shake shake along with the cows while I'm reading to them. It's a great story with vivid, funny illustrations and a much needed lesson about good nutrition for kids! I highly recommend this book for any young child.

Rodeo Ron reforms the town with Rotten Teeth by introducing his tasty shakes from his cows: the first one as yellow as a field of sun ripened corn, the second as blue as a cloudless sky and the th ird as green as a fresh spring meadow. The milkshake cows not only make tasty shakes, they dispense colorful shakes. This would be a fun introduction to a lesson on making milkshakes of three colors using a variety of flavorings. Even little kids can use a blender to transform plain old burpless milk into yummy snacks that everyone will love. There are no recipes in the book, but it won't take most kids more than a minute to come up with ideas for their own tasty drinks.

Great kids book, young and old. Town called Cavity only serves soda to drink and everyones teeth are rotted. Great western and very colorful!

This is a super book, intelligent and attractive as well. As a child, I loved Vernor's Ginger Ale, and I enjoyed reading this book tremendously! The history of the company is well written and interesting, and the numerous illustrations are varied and delightful. I especially appreciated the chronology and bibliography that balance the cool graphics with authoritative research. Well done!!

This unique and eye opening saga into the history of Vernor's, reveals a facinating evolution from a doctor prescribed tummy soother, to "Detroit's Drink". Lawerence L. Rouch is an increadible writer who brings to life the colorful and amazing history of more than just a soft drink, but of the city of Detroit itself. From "The Original Ginger Ale's" post civil war beginings to its current position in the highly competive soft drink market of today, the Vernor story truly is one of a kind.

Wow! This book takes me back to my childhood in MI. It's so richly illustrated & so fun to read! I love it. I am going to buy it for all my friends and family for XMAS. What a great Michigan read!

INTOXICATED is one of those books, when you open it and start reading, you don't want to put it down.

From its evocative opening pages, the reader is drawn into a story of overindulgence and experimentation set against the backdrop of a backend-of-nowhere setting - Gomersal.

Having grown up in "The Rhubard Triangle" of West Yorkshire , it wasn't hard for me to be transported half way across the world, to a village setting which probably has changed little since the mid-nineteenth century, to a family of alcoholics and their co-dependents whose actions and reactions are also constant through the ages.

Barlow's pages reek of authenticity. But, don't get me wrong, INTOXICATED is far from a torrid story. Like the secret recipe which is added to the Rhurbarb drink, the cast of colourful characters spike the mixture and titillate the imagination.

Take Vermilion - the personification of the music hall midget - colourful by name and nature, and the weakling George who slowly emerges like the proverbial butterfly, Isaac Brookes - entrepreneur - seemingly unstoppable, and the rest of the cast of contrasting hangers-on who are unwittingly carried along in the tide of reverie.

INTOXICATED captures the reader's imagination with its drama and pathos and Barlow portrays its characters with honesty and sensitivity.

INTOXICATED is a great read and I can thoroughly recommend it.

This is the strangest historical novel I have read. It's the story of how soda drinks were invented, set in rural victorian England (if you will...) and involving alcoholics, cocaine addiction and rhubarb (yes, you heard right). he's one of those writers who draw you in, very subtle and readable but so warm. I mean really warm. full of emotion so that you kind of gasp almost after some scenes. and he can do drama, and humor. it leaves you a bit drained of emotion. fantastic, wild writing.

My daughter and her parents are crazy about Lynn Roberts. The stories are completely engaging. And the pictures are so interesting and fun that it is a pleasure to read them over and over again.

Little Red is hilarious! Roberts offers a cute and off-the-wall take on classic stories. And there is something fun for everyone in them.

This is a great version of Little Red Riding Hood....particularly well-suited for boys. My two love it...the pictures are spooky enough to give them a scary thrill and the ending is kid-friendly enough to let them get to sleep after reading it. Highly recommend!

Plenty of nostalgia! GREAT pictures! Interesting facts of Pepsi's very beginings. From that first drug store sip,to bankruptcies and all the way to Pepsi's current success. It is also very easy to identify when my Pepsi collectibles were made with the information in this book.

I thought myself to be well read on Pepsi history. To my delight, this book proved me wrong. Never before has so much history been written in such an enjoyable to read manner. Thank you Bob Stoddard.

If you are interested in the history of how Soda drinks have developed from the early 1800's to the 1950's....this is the book. Full of pictures, diagrams of early equipment, discusses certain companies as well (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc.) Very informative.

A grand and wonderful book for equally inspiring soft drinks. Rodengen's style is beautiful.