An interesting look into the family behind a big name in farming.

The book is written about the author’s own family. It’s full of extra details that only a family member would know. I like that it connects people to the author, for example by his saying “my grandfather.” That helps make the story real. The evolution of farming with the introduction of irrigation and “truck farming.” I particularly enjoyed the discussions about production during and after wars.

The biggest negative for me was the glossing over certain things. Black workers lived in tents. The book mentions one black worker that had lived in a tent there for 20 years. That person is never mentioned again. Did he get moved into the other housing? Did he continue working on the farm? It seems that black workers were just thrown into the book to show that different races worked on the farms. The writing is almost defensive of the fact that his ancestors were anti-Semitic and racist. Frankly, the book is full of family gossip. I was expecting more information on the farm, not name dropping and discussions about fur coats and horse drawn carriages.

It’s an interesting read if you’re into family drama. This book isn’t for you if you’re hoping for a non-fiction book about a topic you don’t know much about aka spinach farming.

<u><b>The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty</b></u>
John Seabrook
Narrator: Dion Graham
Release Date: June 24, 2025

ALC courtesy of HighBridge Audio and NetGalley.

Well, I enjoy John Seabrook in The New Yorker, and Dion Graham is one of my favorite audiobook narrators, so picking up this audiobook was a no-brainer, and it did not disappoint. John Seabrook is a gifted storyteller, and this time he writes about his own family, an expose on the family business, started by his grandfather, C.F., and follows its growth into an agricultural empire. We are taken into the privileged world of WASP aristocracy and hobnob with celebrities like Eva Gabor. We also see the dark side of American business, with the exploitation of immigrant workers, black laborers, and Japanese Americans from WWII internment camps, to the violence of Ku Klux Klan strikebreakers employed by C.F. One of my top non-fiction reads of the year so far!