For the Record: The United Fruit Company's Sixty-Six Years in Guatemala

by Diane K. Stanley

An account of the United Fruit Company's arrival in Guatemala, operations, and legacy - as told by a woman born in a United Fruit hospital to parents who came to Guatemala to work in the United Fruit Company's banana industry.

295 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Robin]

Blech. For too many pages the author of this book spews apologetic defenses full of "furthermores" and "moreovers" as she outlines the bad things that United Fruit did or is said to have done. "the fact that ufco may have done..." is not a workable way to present a possibility. Citing another author or book in one chapter to defend a point and then countering a different point from the same author (by attempting to fully discredit them) is not a workable way to support your argument. Stating that you were born in a hospital founded and run by the company you are defending - I appreciate the honesty as it gave me better preparation for what to expect for the rest of the book (but it probably wasn't a good move). Praising an organization for doing something better than other organizations while ignoring the obvious question of "Why did they do it at all?" just makes my head hurt.