The Fish That Ate the Whale

The Life and Times of America's Banana King

By: Rich Cohen

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

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.

Really intriguing story

Very engaging + inspiring, yet a good cautionary tale. Pretty balanced take about a nuanced American icon

Phenomenal

Wonderfully written. A phenomenal business biography on par with Chernow’s Titan and Caro’s Power Broker.

A story about America, a Comapny and a Man

I really enjoyed how woven into the history of America this man was. From his immigration to his innovation and then invalidation, we hear the story of a man in the world where he meets it and shapes it.

Hope there are stories of those affected in Latin America

Great story about a man’s business conquest. It’s interesting to see how humans always have to sacrifice something for success and also how religion always plays at the back of one’s mind. I would like to hear stories about the Guatemalans who lost their land and how events and activities of these companies plus govt agencies affected and still affect the lives of people.

Fascinating!

Everything! Don’t judge a book by its cover! Who would of thoughts bananas gangsters existed!

The Banana Man! and a park in Hammond, La.

learning the story behind the name of a park in Hammond, LA. that I played in as a child. great read

The story telling, the writing, Sam's early amd midlife in the banana industry.

I liked the speaker and his pacing. Well executed. I disliked that the story had to come to an end.

One of the Best Stories I’d Never Heard

Just listen to it. You will not regret! It is an mazing story that is amazingly told!

History we do not know but should

I really love and learned so much from this book! As a Tulane student who lived next to a dorm named for his daughter and dined in the house on St Charles that he donated to Tulane, Zumurray was just a name of another dorm. In fact, he was an important part of American and especially New Irleans history. It is very suspicious that as an American history student, one who took Louisiana history in a classroom that had a view of his home, I never head of him! Very interesting.

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.