| International Standard Book Number |
9781324003526 (hardcover)
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| International Standard Book Number |
1324003529 (hardcover)
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| Personal Name |
Seabrook, John, author.
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| Title Statement |
The spinach king : the rise and fall of an American dynasty / John Seabrook.
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| Edition Statement |
First edition.
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| Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice |
New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company, 2025.
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| Physical Description |
xiv, 346 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : black and white illustrations ; 24 cm.
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| Bibliography, Etc. Note |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [327]-344).
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| Formatted Contents Note |
Introduction: bookstrap village -- Seabrook family reunion, 1994 -- The Henry Ford of agriculture, 1859-1924 -- Bloody harvest, 1929-1934 -- Old bulls and young bulls, 1939-1954 -- The prince and the reporter, 1954-1959 -- Epilogue: Seabrook & Son.
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| Summary, Etc. |
"Having left this material for his writer son, my father must have wanted the story told, even if he couldn't bear to tell it himself." So begins the story of a forgotten American dynasty, a farming family from the bean fields of southern New Jersey who became as wealthy and powerful as aristocrats -- only to implode in a storm of lies. The patriarch, C. F. Seabrook, was hailed as the "Henry Ford of Agriculture." His son Jack, a keen businessman, was poised to take over what Life called "the biggest vegetable factory on earth." But the carefully cultivated facade -- glamorous outings by horse-drawn carriage, hidden wine cellars, and movie star girlfriends -- hid dark secrets that led to the implosion of the family business. At the heart of the narrative is a multi-generational succession battle. It's a tale of family secrets and Swiss bank accounts, of half-truths, of hatred and passion -- and lots and lots of liquor. The Seabrooks' colorful legal and moral failings took place amid the trappings of extraordinary privilege. But the story of where that money came from is not so pretty. They say behind every great fortune there is a great crime. At Seabrook Farms, the troubling American histories of race, immigration, and exploitation arise like weeds from the soil. Great Migration Black laborers struck against the company for better wages in the 1930s, and Japanese Americans helped found a "global village" on the farm after World War II. Revealing both C. F. and Jack Seabrook's corruption, The Spinach King undermines the "great man" theory of industrial progress. It also shows how American farms evolved from Jeffersonian smallholdings to gigantic agribusinesses, and what such enormous firms do to the families whose fate is bound up in the land. A compulsively readable story of class and privilege, betrayal and revenge -- three decades in the making -- The Spinach King explores the author's complicated family legacy and the dark corners of the American Dream." -- Provided by publisher.
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| Subject-Personal Name |
Seabrook, Charles Franklin, 1881-1964.
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| Subject-Personal Name |
Seabrook, John M., 1917-2009.
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| Subject-Personal Name |
Seabrook family Biography.
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| Subject-Corporate Name |
Seabrook Brothers and Sons History.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Families.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Secrecy.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Family secrets.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Wealth.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Revenge.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
American Dream.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Inheritance and succession.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Betrayal.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Farmers Biography.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Frozen foods industry History. United States
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| Subject Added Entry - Geographical Term |
New Jersey Biography.
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| Subject Added Entry - Geographical Term |
Seabrook Farms (Seabrook, N.J.)
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| Index Term-Genre/Form |
Biographies.
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| Index Term-Genre/Form |
Informational works.
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| Index Term-Genre/Form |
Family histories.
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