The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek

by Howard Markel

***2017 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist for Nonfiction***"What's more American than Corn Flakes?" —Bing CrosbyFrom the much admired medical historian (“Markel shows just how compelling the medical history can be”—Andrea Barrett) and author of An Anatomy of Addiction (“Absorbing, vivid”—Sherwin Nuland, The New York Times Book Review, front page)—the story of America’s empire John and Will Kellogg. John Harvey Kellogg was one of America’s most beloved physicians; a best-selling author, lecturer, and health-magazine publisher; founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium; and patron saint of the pursuit of wellness. His youngest brother, Will, was the founder of the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which revolutionized the mass production of food and what we eat for breakfast. In The Kelloggs, Howard Markel tells the sweeping saga of these two extraordinary men, whose lifelong competition and enmity toward one another changed America’s notion of health and wellness from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, and who helped change the course of American medicine, nutrition, wellness, and diet. The Kelloggs were of Puritan stock, a family that came to the shores of New England in the mid-seventeenth century, that became one of the biggest in the county, and then renounced it all for the religious calling of Ellen Harmon White, a self-proclaimed prophetess, and James White, whose new Seventh-day Adventist theology was based on Christian principles and sound body, mind, and hygiene rules—Ellen called it “health reform.” The Whites groomed the young John Kellogg for a central role in the Seventh-day Adventist Church and sent him to America’s finest Medical College. Kellogg’s main medical focus—and America’s number one indigestion (Walt Whitman described it as “the great American evil”). Markel gives us the life and times of the Kellogg brothers of Battle Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his world-famous Battle Creek Sanitarium medical center, spa, and grand hotel attracted thousands actively pursuing health and well-being. Among the Mary Todd Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, Booker T. Washington, Johnny Weissmuller, Dale Carnegie, Sojourner Truth, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and George Bernard Shaw. And the presidents he Taft, Harding, Hoover, and Roosevelt, with first lady Eleanor. The brothers Kellogg experimented on malt, wheat, and corn meal, and, tinkering with special ovens and toasting devices, came up with a ready-to-eat, easily digested cereal they called Corn Flakes. As Markel chronicles the Kelloggs’ fascinating, Magnificent Ambersons–like ascent into the pantheon of American industrialists, we see the vast changes in American social mores that took shape in diet, health, medicine, philanthropy, and food manufacturing during seven decades—changing the lives of millions and helping to shape our industrial age.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, American History, Business, Food, Audiobook

510 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 8, 2017

About the author

Howard Markel, M.D., Ph.D., is the George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine, professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases, professor of psychiatry, and director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. His books include the award- winning Quarantine! and When Germs Travel. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The New England Journal of Medicine, and The Journal of the American Medical Association. A member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, Markel lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan."

Reviews

[Lisa-Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of breakfast cereal could not get weirder. Who knew that corn flakes were invented by two misfits who not only hated each other, but held some pretty outlandish world views? John, the older brother, was the most odd, between his fascination with bodily functions and his horrible racial prejudices. Will is the martyred younger brother who finally escapes John’s clutches with his corn flakes recipe and goes on to build a lonely empire which survives even today.

There are no heroes here, and that impeded my enjoyment of what was otherwise an interesting business history. John is flat-out batcrap crazy, never consummating his marriage with his wife due to “sexual purity”, adopting dozens of kids on which he performs health experiments, and writing down every time he goes to the bathroom. He builds a “sanitarium” devoted to cleanliness and health foods where famous people flock, while he loses investors’ money at every turn. (Think Richard Simmons meets Bernie Madoff.) The brothers work together at the “San” for a while, inventing granola and a few other foods, but then Will can’t take polishing John’s white shoes any more. “Will somehow took John’s abuse with quiet dignity, much to the detriment of his self-esteem. Yet as good as he was at performing his thankless tasks, it was a constant struggle to keep up with his brother, let alone please him.”

Beyond the weirdo brothers, I wanted to know the true history of breakfast foods. At the same time John and Will Kellogg were experimenting with pre-chewed food at the “San”, Charley Post came to stay with them. He was a broke Texas businessman with indigestion, but left with his own corn flakes recipe which became Post Toasties. I had no idea such cereal creativity flourished in Battle Creek, Michigan, of all places. Post killed himself in 1919, but his company too lives on with Grape Nuts and Postum. Another one of their friends invented the Graham Cracker and still another, Quaker Oats.

I was fascinated by the news that America’s breakfast foods were merely the byproduct of an early health food get-rich-quick scheme. “Will’s greatest breakthrough was the realization that there were far more healthy people who would eat and purchase tasty Corn Flakes for their daily breakfast compared to the relatively small number of invalids who bought and consumed only the blandest of ‘health foods’ to aid their digestion. Will made them taste good and the rest was history.” So cereal became a convenience food not a health food, and the next thing you knew, it was Tony the Tiger, Fruit Loops and snap, crackle, pop. Will was also an advertising genius who spent millions per year on ads even during the Great Depression.

The brothers took each other to court the first time in 1910 and pretty much every year after that, until their deaths in the 1950s. Neither could allow the other’s success. John left his small remaining fortune to the disgusting “Race Betterment Foundation” for white supremacy, which promptly went broke, while Will left $66 million to The Kellogg Foundation, a children’s charity. Today, Kellogg’s has worldwide sales of $14 billion with 29,000 employees and Will’s Kellogg Foundation continues to donate millions to worthy causes.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I debated whether to give this a 3 or 4 star rating. It was really quite captivating, but perhaps a little too exhaustive. Both brothers were such interesting characters, it was hard to paint a full picture on a dual biography. There was lots of skipping around in time, which also made it a little more difficult to follow (and some descriptive phrases that were a bit eye-roll inducing, but that's being a little picky on my part). If you are interested in late 19th-early 20th century figures and industry titans like me, you will probably enjoy this book. You will also want a bowl of Corn Flakes.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very interesting not only of the two Kellogg brothers life story, but the history and hard times of them growing up, how brilliant they were in their own ways , how things fell apart between them and the effects their actions and lives had on their families and future generations to come.

Together, they complimented each other, yet one was better at some things than the other. Apart, one was still better at some things than the other and they clashed horribly through the years resulting in personal assaults/insults, legal and financial issues. It is such a shame how much time and effort was wasted between these two brothers fighting against each other pretty much to the very end of their lives.

Gosh, they were so very smart; they were passionate and driven behind what they were each creating. They were information hungry, perfectionists, eccentric at the end. They were absolutely creative in their marketing strategies with their ideas and products at that time.

As I finished this book, I was amazed thinking of the foods we eat that come from the Kellogg’s brothers and how they were created/formulated/patented. I was also amazed of the Dr. Kellogg and his wellness medical teachings of no smoking, no alcohol, no coffee or tea, no meat, no sugar which has been proven to be medically correct to abstain or do in moderation to this very day.

Dr. John Kellogg was the man behind the idea and creation of many well known healthy products: probiotics,soy milk, possibly peanut/nut butter, bran cereals, fiber bars, psyllium (natural plant laxative), granola. His well known Battle Creek sanitarium promoted cleanliness and wellness which we would equivocate to a high end spa/retreat facility where there would be daily physical exercise, massage, water therapy, nutritional diets, fresh air, etc. (this sanitarium is no longer functioning but was well known in its time and attended by past presidents, celebrities, the wealthy, and those looking for “stress relief” or bodily function adjustments). On the negative side, Dr. Kellogg was also behind eugenics (race betterment) and some of his rather outlandish medical “breakthroughs” have since been discounted.

Brother Will Kellogg always had had a “chip on his shoulder” since growing up that permeated through his personality to the day he died. He was however, just as brilliant as his brother, but in a business sense and also in the way he ran his business and treated other people including his employees - fairly, truthfully, with compassion and understanding - Unfortunately not all of his family members including his wife, were treated well by him, as he was so predominantly focused on his business.

They each left their personal and business/medical legacies which we see and experience around us every day. It is very sad that behind such brilliance and innovation there was not much joy in their lives.

[Maura Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek touches on a lot of different topics that interest me: the history of medicine, Michigan’s past, and the creation and sale of convenience foods in 20th-century America. I found the story at the heart of Howard Markel’s book—that of the brothers Kellogg, who could have both been top-notch captains of industry if they’d just stopped fighting with each other—a compelling one.

Unfortunately, there really isn’t enough to that story to justify Markel’s 400-page book. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother, industrialist Will K. Kellogg, did lead long and relatively interesting lives as they first worked together (though not without conflict) at John’s Battle Creek Sanitarium, then split over Will’s decision to strike out on his own and found Kellogg’s cereal (with, John contended, his recipe for Corn Flakes). The legal battles between the brothers over who could lay claim to the Kellogg’s name when selling cereal stretched over decades and went all the way to the Michigan state Supreme Court before Will emerged victorious. John Harvey, not half the businessman that his brother was, soon drove the Sanitarium into bankruptcy, while Will went on to endow the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which continues its work on behalf of children today.

There’s a saying in journalism that writers have to “kill their darlings”—learn to let go of the quirky details and side stories that might be fun but don’t add anything to the main narrative. Markel seems incapable of killing his darlings, especially when they involve either numbers (long lists of items produced, the costs of various goods) or defecation (a fixation of John Harvey Kellogg’s, and the subject of more than one anecdote in a book that shouldn’t be read over lunch). A better editor would have pushed him to trim these digressions and reduce the bloat in a book that feels far too long.

I did appreciate one of Markel’s objectives, which is to partially redeem the reputation of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. Often dismissed now for his endorsement of eugenics and some medical treatments that have long been discredited, John was nevertheless ahead of his time in promoting the consumption of probiotic-rich foods and reduction of animal products in Americans’ diets. Markel convincingly argues that celebrating John Harvey’s accomplishments doesn’t also mean overlooking his less palatable convictions.

In the end, I finished The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek feeling far more educated in the history of 19th and 20th century wellness culture, Michigan industry, and food manufacturing, though I rather wished that I had watched a one-hour PBS documentary about the Kelloggs instead of committing to a 400-page tome. But I also ended the book with a thought that I’ve never had before: “I could really go for a bowl of Corn Flakes.”

[Andie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were two Kellogg brothers of Battle Cree, Michigan. John, the oldest in the family, became a famous physician, championing not onlyplant-based diets and probiotics, but also unfortunate racists theories like eugenics.

Will, the younger brother, was neglected as a child and made subservient to his older brother until he was in his thirties, established the cereal company that still provides breakfast for many of us today.

This book tells their unhappy story - how the two brothers fought each other for dominance in the health food industry of the day and ended up suing each other i(in a case reminiscent of Dickens' Jarndyce & Jarndyce lawsuit)over who had teh rights to the marketing of corn flakes.

Today very few people remember the older brother and his Battle Creek Sanitarium is long gone, it's buildings now a VA hospital. But everyone knows about the younger brother's creation of the W. K Kellogg cereal company.

This book, however, is a cautionary tale of how blind ambition can ruin more than one family and, in the end, leave all the players miserable.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a history, it's quite detailed but still readable. Could not take the author seriously after he claimed eugenics have been "debunked" by the ides of "settled science". He seemed especially alarmed by the 1924 Act's restrictions on Jewish immigration for some odd reason.

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed in this book. There is a good story to tell here. W.K. Kellogg's signature facsimile was on every box of corn flakes that most of us ate as children. Yet his older brother, Dr. John Harvey, was perhaps more famous at the time due to his medical theories and practices executed at the famous Sanitarium which he ran in Battle Creek. It is remarkable how Americans leading up to the turn of the 20th century seemed to be obsessed with digestion and, in particular, the nature and frequency of their bowel movements. Dr. John H. incorporated his own particular convictions into his medical center, spa and luxury hotel which attracted the rich and famous and others not so well off who flocked there to take cold baths and chew on special diets concocted by Dr. Kellogg. The dried vegetable biscuits sound exquisitely unappetizing but they apparently produced admirable stools. Dr. John repressed his overworked younger brother, who eventually broke off and entered the arena of flaked cereals. He struck it rich, as the public seemed to come to appreciate something that tasted good. The two brothers hated each other and their mutual lawsuits choked the courts. As I wrote, there is a good story here, including the key involvement of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in the health movement of the 1880's. Mr. Markel could have organized it better. The center portion falls flat. Nevertheless the history of America's obsession with health and wellness, and its focal point in Battle Creek, Michigan, is certainly of interest.

[Patrick Casebeer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being from Battle Creek and hearing of it’s history from my parents, this book called to me. I have family that worked for Kellogg’s for many years and have fond memories of the sights, sounds, and smells from our once mighty town.

The book was written like a thesis paper, almost every detail exposed. From things like ‘what brought the Kellogg family to Michigan, then Battle Creek’ to ‘John Harvey had anal fissures’. Again, detailed.

The story of the two brothers is amazing. Hearing how the small city was once a Mecca for health and attracted the most famous of people was both shocking to some degree and also heart warming.

Also, how the brothers split and the now famous Kellogg’s cereal empire was created was most fascinating to me. The end of their lives probably couldn’t have been more different and yet so similar. Long, successful lives, ending in poor health and alone for the most part. Yet one was able to leave a legacy, helping thousands with his philanthropic ways, and the other squandering money on such an endeavor as the one John did.

Fun read but unless you have a connection to the city or company or the Kellogg’s in some way I feel it might be a dry one.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently joined an established book club and this was the first book for discussion. At first I was daunted by the length, but soon found myself enjoying it. This thoughtful and well-presented history of the Kellogg brothers was extremely well done. The author (a doctor and medical historian) delved into tremendous detail about John Kellogg (the doctor who founded a Sanitarium in Battle Creek, MI), and his younger brother Will K. (who eventually became the cereal titan behind Corn Flakes, etc.). I can't stress enough how well Dr. Markel brings to light all the circumstances of these brothers' relations to one another. Acrimonious and sometimes symbiotic in nature, they are each so completely horrible at times, it is difficult to believe. But the enormous amount of research the author undertook to cover the 100 years of their time bears up the true story. I learned a lot about their motivations, religious connections to the Seventh Day Adventists, and bizarre familial binds.

[Alex Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at two “flakey” brothers who changed the world and hated each other. It’s like The Kinks but about 19th century businessmen.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty remarkable book -- exhaustively researched and vividly written. As Goodreads notes, "John Harvey Kellogg was one of America's most beloved physicians; a best-selling author, lecturer, and health-magazine publisher; founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium; and patron saint of the pursuit of wellness. His youngest brother, Will, was the founder of the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which revolutionized the mass production of food and what we eat for breakfast.

"In 'The Kelloggs,' Howard Markel tells the sweeping saga of these two extraordinary men, whose lifelong competition and enmity toward one another changed America's notion of health and wellness from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, and who helped change the course of American medicine, nutrition, wellness, and diet."

While John Harvey Kellogg was the more famous of the two brothers during their lifetimes, his reputation has been very tarnished by his allegiance to the eugenics movement and his promotion of the racist viewpoints of the Race Betterment Foundation. This institution crusaded again "race degeneracy" and went so far as to advocate the forced sterilization of so-called mental defectives, the blind, deaf, mentally, and "crippled," orphans, unwed mothers, epileptics, Native Americans, African-Americans, foreigners, poor residents in Appalachia, and many other outsider groups. "All these 'inferior races,' eugenic theorists concluded, were a drain on the economic, political, and moral health of American life." Kellogg was so enthralled with the eugenics philosophy that when he died in 1943, his entire estate when to the Race Betterment Foundation. It was a sad end to a rather illustrious career.

Author Markel would prefer that we remember John Harvey Kellogg for his better qualities. He was prescient in his understanding of health, hygiene, diet, and the practice of medicine. As Markel notes, "Those who glibly deride him as a quack have entirely missed the point of his life and work. Although the science, or evidence, underpinning his ideas about 'biologic living' have changed, many of his sounder concepts of wellness remain sage prescriptions written out millions of times each day."

Will Kellogg, who invented the process for making corn flakes, has proven to have more credibility in the public's eyes. "Will Kellogg proved to be as shrewd a philanthropist as he was an industrialist. Laboriously amassing his fortune as the years passed, he meticulously designed the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. That it is dedicated to the welfare of children is as much a testimony to his divining the best possible use for his wealth as it was to his loveless youth" (as the younger brother, Will suffered from neglect by his father as well as constant abuse by his older brother).

This book is a fascinating study of an epic rivalry and competition between these two very different men. "Theirs was a rancorous disequilibrium that impoverished their lives, diminished their peace of mind, and spilled over onto their relations with friends, colleagues, and family. Such dysfunction was a striking contrast to their mutual quest to achieve a balance of health through sound digestion and diet. They could see the other's foibles clearly even if they were incapable of contemplating their own."

I gave this book four stars rather than five solely because there is a very long, confusing, and rather boring chapter about a ten-year legal battle between the brothers over the rights to own and use the names and processes of the ready-to-eat cereals (and other products) for which the two were responsible. But otherwise this is a spellbinding account of a critical time in our nation's history when concepts of medicine, wellness, nutrition, and diet were evolving and changing.

[EuroHackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. You'll know if this is the book for you from the very first sentence - which has an endnote. This is definitely more of an academic treatise than a popular biography, so keep that in mind as you read. Because Dr. Kellogg was obsessed with digestion, the author feels the need to go into great detail about the history of gastrointerology - which is not exactly light breakfast reading.

I was under the distinct impression that I was supposed to feel empathy for WK Kellogg, who labored in his more famous doctor brother's shadow for most of his life. I did not empathize with WK, whom I found to be a spineless sadsack who was just as greedy and vindictive as his brother, and who left all of his money to his own charitable foundation basically out of guilt for being such a terrible father/husband to his own family.

I had more empathy for Dr. JH Kellogg, right up until the point where he started espousing (and, more importantly, financially supporting) eugenics loons. For someone who was basically the pioneer of modern wellness, the fact that he was basically terrified that WASPs were going to be outnumbered by non-WASPs within his lifetime is disappointing at best. JH had a lot of hangups of his own, though, besides digestion. He's pretty much the textbook example of anal retentiveness, both literally and figuratively, so maybe the eugenics thing doesn't come from as far out of left field as it first appears.

I do like the irony of the Kelloggs developing an easy-to-digest cereal to aid the country's digestion, only for it to be drowned in sugar in order to be sold to the masses and thus, a contributing factor to today's obesity epidemic.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Battle Creek native, I really enjoyed this book. I learned so much about the Kellogg family and their impact on my hometown and worldwide. It’s really a fascinating story that explores both the successes and failures of both brothers, John Harvey and Will Keith Kellogg.

[Janta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ebook note: narrative was 75% of the whole. Remainder was notes, etc.

An interesting and absorbing read. I'm sure many folks have heard of J.H. Kellogg and his Sanitarium, and of course everyone is aware of W.K. Kellogg's cereals. I was even aware that these two were at odds for most of their lives, but I didn't know many of the details. This book fills in those blanks very well, and overall I think Markel approached both his subjects with empathy and even-handedness. Markel's prose did tend a bit to the florid, though FWIW. Regardless, worth reading if you've an interest in late 19th/early 20th C history.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an engaging and well written examination of sibling rivalry. Of 19th-century celebrity. Of snake oil and science.
I've known quite a bit about J. H. Kellogg's life, but I wasn't as well acquainted with his younger brother W. K. Kellogg's life. And I found the discussion of how the Kellogg's cereal empire came to be such a success very interesting. And that part of the book reminded me of the hundreds of bowls of cereal I've consumed at the breakfast table. And the book reminded me of a couple of my favorite Kellogg's cereals--Pep and Krumbles.

[Dodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a lot of non-fiction, and enjoy those books most when they read like a novel that I can't put down. This author provided tons of fascinating info about the Kelloggs, BUT it just seemed choppy to me. It dragged a lot, in my opinion.

[SundayAtDusk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before cold cereal and Quaker Oats were invented, providing a cereal for breakfast was an arduous, time-consuming task for women, as well as for any men who cooked. Hence, one can see how the Kellogg brothers revolutionized breakfast in America and made a fortune. Who were the Kellogg brothers? Two men born into a large Seventh-Day Adventist family in the mid-1800s who were viewed quite differently while growing up. John Harvey Kellogg was seen as the smart one, the special one, the one who would do something important with his life. Will Kellogg, his younger brother, was seen as a problem student, a young man who needed to quit school and go to work, someone who might not amount to much. Both brothers, though, ended up doing fabulously as adults; John Kellogg became a famous doctor who ran a famous sanitarium, and started the creation of a better, easier cereal; Will became an brilliant, hard-working businessman, created Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and made the Kellogg name famous worldwide.

Both brothers also did a lot to help others and society, and left a legacy that continued to help others long after they were gone. Yet they couldn’t help themselves when it came to brotherly love. They never got along. According to author Howard Markel, it was because John Kellogg was very emotionally abusive towards his younger brother, and had been since they were boys. The author goes into this so much in the beginning of the book that it became difficult for me to appreciate all that John Kellogg was doing with his life, because all I could think about was how mean he was to his brother! Eventually, I just had to remember that Will Kellogg put up with it, and stuck with his brother long after he could have left; so it was best to stop seeing him as a poor victim of his brother and life. (It's interesting to note, too, that what harm some of Dr. Kellogg's stranger beliefs and practices may have done to others is not really explored, only what emotional harm he may have done to his brother. For example, besides being involved in the "eugenics crusade", John Kellogg proposed various barbaric surgeries should be done on hormone fueled teenagers.)

At the end of the book, Mr. Markel makes some last minute attempts to try to figure out why the brothers were like they were, and why they never reconciled. I questioned that he should have done so. To have some psychiatrist announce Will must have had an inferiority complex, as well as to have a relative state that the Kellogg men could be “mean”, did nothing for this biography. By the end of the book, I knew a tremendous amount about the Kellogg family and their business adventures, as well as about the United States at the time in general. Yet I also felt that the stories of the two Kellogg brothers weren’t woven together as well as they could have been. In addition, I felt fatigued and was glad I had reached the final page. The Kelloggs was a worthwhile read and an outstanding history lesson, but I would never consider reading it a second time.

(Note: I received a free ARC of this book from Amazon Vine.)

[Tim Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

We've all heard about the housing bubble and the dot com bubble, but the cereal bubble? Yes, it's true. At the dawn of the 20th century Battlecreek, Michigan was the site of a veritable explosion of cold breakfast cereals.

Most of it was driven by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and the experimental kitchen in his health spa. The doctor has sort of been given the reputation of a quack in the modern world. However, it is clear through reading Markel's book that he had some really groundbreaking ideas. He was ahead of his time in promoting a clean diet, avoidance of fats and sugars, the importance of exercise, the dangers of sedentery lifestyles. He put depressed people in front of light cabinets to promote vitamin D absorption and developed a number of the health foods still used today. And sorry Jane Fonda, he was probably the first to make his own home workout instructional recordings.

On the other hand, he believed in uterus massages for depressed women, and pooping six times daily. And in making his brother follow him into the bathroom so that he could continue to dictate instructions.

The irony of ironies is that John Harvey would never have built his sanitarium up without Will Keith and Will Keith would never have had any training in running a multinational corporation (like Kellogg's) without having run his brother's sanitarium (leave me bee-hee). They ended up in a legal battle that lasted a decade or more (what my old pappy would call a lawyer's dream) and never spoke again. John's business started a long slow decline and Will's took off (and he too seemed to treat his children and grandchildren much as John Harvey treated him, another irony).

The last irony is that Will, the inventor of corn flakes, died in a hospital named after Charlie Post's wife.

Markel does a pretty good job of summing up the character and accomplishments of both of these men in a clear and interesting fashion. I also appreciate that the inspiration came from a first grade field trip to the Kellogg's plant (We used to got to the Buttercrust factory here in San Antonio). All in all, a pretty good read.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first nonfiction book in a long while. I found it slow reading, but very interesting.

[Marcy Heller · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a a Michigander, and as an acquaintance of a former CEO of Kellogg’s with whom I had once chatted with during a seven-hour flight, I was curious to read about our our folk heroes from Battle Creek. I should have realized by the title that the Kellogg brothers were no heroes. Dr. John Kellogg’s unrequited fealty to his religion, his filial dissonance with his brother, and his lack of business acumen left his brother Will to grow the cereal end of their business. What Americans lost in the process was Dr. Kellogg’s belief in eating whole grains and refraining from sugar. Had his personality not gotten in the way, perhaps today Dr. Kellogg’s beliefs in a healthy breakfast—what he called the most important meal of the day—might never have evolved into the overly-processed, sugar-coated, and artificially-colored breakfast cereals of today. The Kellogg Foundation remains a better part of the the brothers’ legacies.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea the history of breakfast cereal was full of so much drama and family dysfunction. And I also learned why 'Kelloggs' is on the front of every box.

[Nancee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me SOOOOO long to read. Almost a year and a half. I'd read some and get bored. Read some more and move onto another book. So glad I finally finished.

What I wanted: A biography about the guy who started the Kellogg food company. How we rose to fame and what has happened since.

What I got: The guy known for the food company is Will Kellogg. He had an older brother named Dr. John Kellogg.
3/4 of the book was dedicated to Dr. John. He was a narcissist, but health conscious and entrepreneurial. He started a sanitorium in Battle Creek. this was like a spa/hospital to really evaluate people's health, teach them good hygiene and eating habits and spend weeks recuperating. It was successful for many decades. Lots of famous people came here to stay. Dr. John wasn't great at managing money or business, but was always pushing the next bigger and better thing. At one point the facility burned down, so they built it up better than ever. He spend much time on developing healthy food, one of which turned into the cereal creation. He gave to charities. He also thought whites were the best race and promoted eugenics. Eventually, he lost most his money and the place closed down.

Will was the younger brother who was a very astute businessman. He worked for Dr. John for many years, making sure the sanitorium ran like clockwork. Eventually, the brothers had a falling out and feuded the rest of their lives. Will came up with the best way to make cereal and started his own company selling it. They had lawsuits over this, but Will was better with money and eventually beat Dr. John out for rights. Will invested most of his money into a mass marketing campaign - magazines, billboards, stores, etc. His company brought about eating cereal with milk in the home for a quick, easy breakfast. That was about it on the information provided about company products. There were a few other items mentioned, but not in much detail. I would have loved to learn more about who took over and how it progressed.

Will made billions, but struggled with relationships. He kept cutting family out from taking over the business. He sounded like a very business-focused person, but not loving. One of his grandsons fell out of a window on accident and was disabled the rest of his life. He took really good care of him. Will also started a large foundation for children.

This was more a story about the brothers and their relationship. Much of the focus was on Dr. John. I wanted to know more about what happened to Will's family, his company, his charity. Very little information was provided on that.

Overall, the writing was very tedious. I got bored so many times. There were many snippets and quotes mashed together to try and make up a semblance of a story. The style was really, really hard for me to read and enjoy.

Don't recommend. Find another book about the Kelloggs, unless you want to learn more about Dr JOhn.

[Emesskay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several years ago I read the book and saw the movie " The Road to Wellville", a fictionalized account of treatments at the Kellogg Sanitarium (and if you haven't read it/seen it, I highly recommend both). This book is the real history of the brothers, and how they came to found the Sanitarium and develop the cereal brand that is now ubiquitous in the grocery aisle.

What is interesting to learn is that at the time John H. Kellogg started learning/practicing medicine, the science of medicine and health was in a transitional stage from the medieval idea of four humours and disease being carried by miasma in the wind to actual modern science - with discoveries relating to bacteria and sanitation of equipment. Dr. Kellogg was one of the modern practitioners - some of his ideas may seem kooky today, like yogurt enemas, but if you think about it - he was doing probiotics - repopulating the gut with the "good" bacteria.

At the same time, there were not a lot of good choices for breakfast. If you wanted something like porridge, you would have to cook raw grains for hours to get them to a consistency that could be eaten. The other option for breakfast was tough meat fried in fat (think sausage gravy). Also, many industries (like meat packing, dairy, canning) were not regulated, and the foods were often adulterated or contaminated. The advent of rolled oats (from Quaker oats) reduced the time to cook breakfast from many hours to one hour. However, the Kellogg brothers wanted an easily prepared and easily digestible breakfast. So they started experimenting with cooking grains in various ways and smashing them until they came up with the flaked cereal.

Although the brothers worked together for many years, they did not get along. John could be very high handed and authoritarian, and to be fair, he treated his younger brother (William) quite shabbily.

While John was a very good doctor and surgeon, it was William that had the head for business, and was the one who managed all the little details of the Sanitarium (e.g. clean rooms, paying the staff, all those trivial details the doctor could not be bothered with).

Besides a history of the brothers and the Sanitarium, the author explores wider social trends at the time as a way of explaining why people might have thought they way they did. It really is an interesting insight into both medicine and breakfast foods at a turning point in history. If you enjoyed The Road to Wellville you really must read this.

[St. Gerard Expectant Mothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Kelloggs is a fascinating biography of the real life Cain and Abel story of the Kellogg brothers, Dr. John and Will. Born to religious homesteaders, the two siblings established a wellness center in order to promote health and a more clean lifestyle. However, the public most knows them as the two men who created the Kelloggs cereal company which is most recognizable today.

The book traces their roots particular comparing the two siblings and the journeys that led to their divide. Dr. John Kellogg was the founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a wellness spa in Michigan that catered to his wealthy elite Seventh Day Adventist Church and later to the more high profile public. Using unorthodox and controversial methods such as bloodletting, cupping, and unethical operations, he gained a following that could be almost deemed "cult-like" in nature. His brother Will was more pragmatic and took on the business side of his brother's business, eventually leading to the creation of the Kellogg's Cereal Company. Yet, he fell underneath his older sibling's control and shadow.

Eventually, everything came to a head when Will took the cereal brand into the next level leading to a conflict between Dr. John and his younger brother. Lawsuits were filed and control of the company became in question as the two men fought for ownership of the company. Eventually, Will won out but the rift was so bad that they stopped communicating even on to their deathbeds.

The Kelloggs is a very interesting tale full of sibling rivalry, greed, and narcissism. Much of the products brands we consume and purchase, it always good to note the backstory involved with its founders. This is definitely one biography to read.

[Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

so i read Genius on the Edge: The Bizarre Double Life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted about William Halsted, which was amazing, and that led me to An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine which was even better (the opening scene, in which a middle-aged and highly distinguished doctor, the head of surgery at bellevue, is frantically searching for a vial of pharmaceutical cocaine to mainline into his arm before operating on a patient, should be a movie. anyway, that book was written by Howard Markel and i saw that he had a new book about the kellogg brothers so i was naturally very excited. and the book did not disappoint. sibling rivalry, medical theories that are both prescient and completely bat-shit crazy, a genius-level doctor and his OCD habits, the history of the american breakfast, this book has it all. as soon as i was done i started The Road to Wellville because, well, i'm a nerd.

[Gaston G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting but sad book! John Harvey Kellogg is a doctor ahead f his time. As a youngster and with the help of the leaders of the Seventh Day Adventist Church leaders, he studies to become a doctor. In return for their help, he commits to work at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. He turns it into one of the premier health care facilities. He becomes an expert on digestive and bowel issues as these are the leading maladies of society in those days.

William Keith Kellogg, his younger brother by eight years, is thought too slow to be worthy of an advanced education, including high school. After working for his father's broom company as a teenager, he becomes the business manager for the Battle Creek Sanitarium, working for his older brother.

With will at the helm of the business side of the San, it is a very successful health care facility. John lacks the desire and maybe the ability to take care of that part of the business. Together the brother develop various food to help people with digestive or bowel problems. Will thinks that he can market the breakfast foods they have develop. John reminds him that he is not intelligent enough to do so.

Eventually, the brothers part ways and at some point, Will buys the right to market the cereal from John. The rest is history. What history does not tell us is that the two brothers spent the rest of their lives feuding. Sometimes, John is the more vicious at other times it is Will.

Will leaves quite the legacy while John is hardly remembered for his medical advancement in the medical field.

I found the book to be very well written keeping my interest.

[Natalie Yosipovitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before this book, I had only associated the Kelloggs with cereal, but this story weaves together complex family dynamics, entrepreneurship, and rich historical context—including ties to the Underground Railroad, Seventh-day Adventism, the evolution of medicine in the U.S., eugenics, and more. And of course, it reveals how two brothers, Will and John Kellogg, reshaped breakfast as we know it.

John Harvey Kellogg, once a sickly child, became a renowned doctor (even to many presidents!) and an early advocate of practices like light therapy, calorie counting, exercise for health, probiotics, and plant-based diets (he also had some WILD takes around masturbation and eugenics, worth reading the book to learn more!)

Will Kellogg brought the business acumen his brother lacked. After breaking away from John’s enterprises (due to severe underpayment and abuse), he commercialized their cereal experiments and, through bold advertising, turned them into a global phenomenon.

One thing’s for sure: I’ll never buy Post cereals again, knowing he stole his recipes from the Kelloggs. And I’ll happily talk about the Kelloggs any chance I get. This book is a long read, but totally worth exploring the wild lives of these characters that impacted so much more than the breakfast foods we all know and love!

[Maurice Tougas · Rating 4 out of 5]

You would be hard pressed to find a single living person in North America and much of the Western world who has not consumed a Kellogg's product. The story behind the "battling brothers" who revolutionized the way we eat with the introduction of the first ready-to-eat cereal, Corn Flakes, is fascinating reading. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the elder brother, was hugely famous in his time as an advocate for healthy living, or at least healthy as it was known in the early 1900s. While some of this theories were quackery (no sex or 'self pleasure', and later as an advocate for racial purity), much of what he espoused about healthy eating was accurate, and far ahead of its time. A showman with a huge ego, he was a skilled doctor who developed a world-famous sanitarium (a word he coined) in Battle Creek, Mich. However, he belittled and denigrated his younger brother Will, scarring him for life. But it was Will who had the business savvy to build the Kellogg's company into a global food colossus. The brothers grew to bitterly hate one another, and their ferocious sibling rivalry diminished both men. The Kelloggs is a page-turner of a history book, a vivid and detailed (OK, sometimes too detailed) examination of two 20th century American titans. Highly recommended.

[Evelyn Lilyana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read. Prior to this book, all I knew about the Kelloggs was their seventh-day adventist affiliation. I didn't know that John Harvey Kellogg had invented many health equipments nor about his participation in the early development of probiotics, soy milk, bran cereals, and many other medical advancements. I had no idea that J.H Kellogg had also invented granola. I had never heard of the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Nor was I aware that it was his younger brother, Will Keith Kellogg who is better known for creating and popularizing Corn Flakes.

On a side note, some of Dr. John H. Kellogg's beliefs and treatments were just whack! Like his strong belief that sex was bad for people's health thus leading him to never consummating his marriage! Or that his treatment against masturbation was to circumcise men and cut off the womens' ciltoris...Apart from these J.H Harvey was ahead of his time in many of his medical assessments.

Their sibling rivaly is most unfortunate, it's sad that they never reconciled and that both, though, brilliant men in their fields, cared more about themselves and their businesses than their own families. So much drama! I will never be able to look at a box of Corn Flakes the same.

[Nancy Cozzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

* I purchased this book from Amazon and I had to take a break from it in order to finish a library book*

This book is about the biggest rivalry before Biggie and Tupac: between brothers John Harvey Kellogg and Will Keith Kellogg. This is the story behind the cereals we eat in the morning.
John Harvey Kellogg is a talented doctor who was focused on gut health, avoidance of germs, a good diet, fresh air, and exercise. Things that at the time people rolled their eyes at but a 100 years later we are recommended to do. However as talented as John Harvey is, he is also a bully who treated his brother Will Keith terribly and maybe let his fame get to his head.
Will Keith is a talented businessman and becomes the CEO of Kellogg's after developing the wildly popular Corn Flakes. Will is an introvert and struggles to relate to people especially his own family. He has exacting standards that his family cannot live up to. When he dies, his grandson reports that the family felt a sense of release and freedom.
The brothers beefed over the success of Kellogg's cereal, John's initially successful sanitorium and they would never be reconciled in life.
This is an interesting and sad story about two people who let ego, hubris, and bitterness get in the way.