For God, country, and Coca-Cola : the definitive history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it

Now fully updated, the classic account of how a bottle of sweetened caramel-colored soda water became synonymous with American capitalism.;Table of Contents; Preface; Prologue: A Parable (January 1, 1985); PART I: IN THE BEGINNING (1886-1899); 1. Time Capsule: The Golden Age of Quackery; 2. What Sigmund Freud, Pope Leo, and John Pemberton Had in Common; 3. The Tangled Chain of Title; 4. Asa Candler: His Triumphs and Headaches; 5. Bottle It: The World's Stupidest, Smartest Contract; PART II: HERETICS AND TRUE BELIEVERS (1900-1922); 6. Success Under Siege; 7. Dr. Wiley Weighs In; 8. The Sinister Syndicate; 9. Coca-Cola's Civil War; PART III: THE GOLDEN AGE (1923-1949); 10. Robert W. Woodruff: The Boss Takes the Helm. How did an innocuous soft drink, more than 99% sweetened water, come to be regarded as "the sublimated essence of all that America stands for"? For God, Country and Coca-Cola is a cultural, social, and economic history of America as seen through the green glass of a Coke bottle. And what a quintessentially American tale it is. Coca-Cola began humbly as a patent medicine amid the fervor and chaos of Reconstruction Atlanta. A shrewd marketeer saw its value as a beverage, and it rapidly grew through the Gilded Age to become the dominant consumer product of the American Century. The key to Coca-Cola's success was ubiquitous advertising, as the Company's master myth-makers first created and then quenched the thirst of a nation. And when World War II carried American troops overseas, the soft drink went as well, laying the foundation for an enduring and lucrative presence. Drawing on previously untapped archival sources, For God, Country and Coca-Cola paints vivid portraits of the entrepreneurs who led the Company: pious Methodist Asa Candler, who nourished the fledgling enterprise across the threshold of a century; cigar-chomping Robert Woodruff, who hosted presidents at his Georgia plantation; and the aristocratic Roberto Goizueta, whose cosmopolitan background gave him the vision to reach global markets. All have left their indelible imprints on Coca-Cola. Here, too, is a colorful supporting cast of hustlers, swindlers, ad men, and con men who have made the soft drink the most recognizable trademark in the world. The underside of Coca-Cola is also here: shady legal proceedings, cozy arrangements with politicians, brutal treatment of competitors and Third World workers. But, despite its occasionally tarnished image, the Company has marched zealously forward with its cherished product - and its global conquest. Provocative, controversial, and always entertaining, For God, Country and Coca-Cola reveals how Coke has irrevocably transformed our world. As family saga, cultural history, and, finally, the complete story of an American icon, this book is "the Real Thing." Table of Contents Preface Prologue: A Parable (January 1, 1985) PART I: IN THE BEGINNING (1886-1899) 1. Time Capsule: The Golden Age of Quackery 2. What Sigmund Freud, Pope Leo, and John Pemberton Had in Common 3. The Tangled Chain of Title 4. Asa Candler: His Triumphs and Headaches 5. Bottle It: The World's Stupidest, Smartest Contract PART II: HERETICS AND TRUE BELIEVERS (1900-1922) 6. Success Under Siege 7. Dr. Wiley Weighs In 8. The Sinister Syndicate 9. Coca-Cola's Civil War PART III: THE GOLDEN AGE (1923-1949) 10. Robert W. Woodruff: The Boss Takes the Helm. 11. A Euphoric Depression and Pepsi's Push12. THe 4,000 Bottle: Coca-Cola Goes to War 13. Coca-Cola Uber Alles PART IV: TROUBLE IN THE PROMISED LAND (1950-1979) 14. Coca-Colonization and the Communists 15. Breaking the Commandments 16. Paul Austin's Turbulent Sixties 17. Big Red's Uneasy Slumber PART V: THE GO-GO GOIZUETA ERA (1980-1997) 18. Roberto Goizueta's Bottom Line 19. The Marketing Blunder of the Century 20. The Big Red Machine 21. Global Fizz PART VI: Quenching All Thirsts (1997-2013) 22. Ivester Inherits a World of Trouble 23. Daft Dilemmas 24. Turnaround. 25. Surging Ahead26. World Without End? Appendix 1: The Sacred Formula Appendix 2: Coca-Cola Magic: Thirty-Five Business Lessons Note on Sources Acknowledgments Index. For God, Country and Coca-Cola is the unauthorized history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it. From its origins as a patent medicine in Reconstruction Atlanta through its rise as the dominant consumer beverage of the American century, the story of Coke is as unique, tasty, and effervescent as the drink itself. With vivid portraits of the entrepreneurs who founded the company -- and of the colorful cast of hustlers, swindlers, ad men, and con men who have made Coca-Cola the most recognized trademark in the world -- this is business history at its best: in fact, "The Real Thing." From its invention as a cocaine-laced patent medicine in the Gilded Age to its globe-drenching ubiquity as the ultimate symbol of consumer capitalism, Coca-Cola's dramatic history unfolds as the ultimate business saga