A biography of the little-known antihero, Samuel Zemurray (1877-1961), the disgraced mogul of the much hated United Fruit Company who aided the creation of Israel, funded many of Tulane University's buildings, and had a hand in the rise of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. 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,...

In this exploration of corporate maneuvering and subterfuge, journalist Chapman shows how the importer United Fruit set the precedent for the institutionalized power and influence of today's multinational companies. This infamous company was arguably the most controversial global corporation ever--from the jungles of Costa Rica to the dramatic suicide of its CEO, who leapt from an office on the 44th floor of the Pan Am building in New York City. From...

Winner of the Dzanc Prize for Fiction. Urabá, Colombia, 1990: A violent strike at plantations across the banana zone leads to crops in flames, managers murdered, and the local economy teetering on the brink. In retaliation, the banana producers finance right-wing paramilitaries to cleanse the zone of guerrillas and their supposed collaborators. Through the intertwined lives of four characters--a banana worker making a play for power in the guerrillas,...