Taylor Clark is a writer based in Portland, Oregon. A graduate of Dartmouth College and a Pacific Northwest native, he has written for GQ, Slate, and Psychology Today, among other publications.
Starbucks jolts awake 40 million customers a week and opens six new stores each day. Its 13,000 (and growing) stores can be found in 39 countries; notable locations include the Guant namo Bay Naval Base in Cuba and by the Great Wall of China. In the first section of this stimulating account, journalist Clark chronicles the rise of the coffee giant and the mainstreaming of specialty coffee and cafe culture in America. In the second, he delves deeper into ethical issues surrounding Starbucks, from the plight of coffee growers in developing countries to the issues of cultural homogenization and corporate colonialization as Starbucks expands its operations around the world. Clark dispels as myths most of these gripes against the conglomerate-he argues that mom-and-pop coffee shops are actually helped by Starbucks!-or as inevitable consequences of the company's success. Like John F. Love's McDonald's: Behind the Arches and Mark Pendergrast's For God, Country, and Coca-Cola, this is both history and balanced critique of a company that has become a cultural phenomenon. Recommended for all public libraries.-Jennifer Zarr, NYPL Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
There's a double shot of skepticism in this account of Starbucks' ascendancy as "a permanent fixture in the global landscape" written by Clark, a Portland-based journalist, who's been mulling over Starbucks ever since the coffeehouse chain opened three branches in his small Oregon hometown. His coverage begins with a Seattle trio who set out to emulate the high-quality coffee of the California-based Peet's chain, before Howard Schultz took over the company and laid plans for its massive expansion. While Clark grudgingly admires Starbucks' ability to repackage coffee as "beverage entertainment" for a "hyperprosperous society in search of emotional soothing," there's a lot he doesn't like about the company. He's convinced that Starbucks "diminishes the world's diversity" by ruthlessly outmaneuvering local competition on a global scale, and dubs the baristas' work as "a textbook McJob." Even the quality of the coffee, he says, has gone downhill. Though Clark loses some of his focus by trying to rope in so many arguments against Starbucks, overall, his dubious perspective on one of the modern world's most ubiquitous icons is just frothy enough to prove entertaining. (Nov. 5) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
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