Title: The fish that ate the whale
Description: 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. In between, he worked as a fruit peddler, banana hauler, dockside hustler, and plantation owner. He battled and conquered the United Fruit Company, becoming a symbol of the best and worst of the United States: proof 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. 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. -- Publisher description.
Subjects: Jewish businesspeople, Banana trade, United Fruit Company, Biography, History, politics, foreign policy, Fruit trade, Businesspeople, biography, New orleans (la.), biography, New orleans (la.), history
Places: Central America, Guatemala, Honduras, New Orleans, Louisiana
People: Samuel Zemurray (1877-1961)
Time periods: 1890-1950