Summary

A unique view of the awesome power and single mindedness of large corporations in pursuit of their own interests. The Essence of Capitalism is a timely account of globalization, the consumer culture, and the historical roots of our contemporary dilemmas. By tracking the 130-year history of Coca-Cola (and a number of other large American or transnational corporations), this book details all that is best, worst and most powerful about global capitalism. This is the tale of how Coca-Cola was lucky in its marketing and business practices to enable it to expand beyond its original market (that which a horse drawn cart could cover in a day) to today's massive corporate status. The book covers topics such as the creation of the idea of a corporation to having the status of person, how the money market works in the flow of capital, the effect of marketing and advertising on consumer tastes, and how free trade really becomes oligopoly. By presenting a frightening set of examples, McQueen even joins the debate over what constitutes human nature when he demonstrates how corporations are creating a second nature by altering our needs, whether through the saturation of food with sweeteners or through genetic manipulation.