Glazed America: A History of the Doughnut

by Paul R. Mullins

In Mullins's skillful hands, this simple pastry provides surprisingly compelling insights into our eating habits, our identity, and modern consumer culture.

Genres: Food, History, Nonfiction, Anthropology

200 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 2008

Reviews

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not procrastinating, I'm surveying the existing scholarship...

Sigh. Maybe I expect too much from histories of donuts. Or maybe I just don't know what I want from them. All I know is that I don't want long digressions into the merits of low-carb diets and whether they possibly had some effect on donut sales and well there is no evidence that they did so they probably didn't. I also don't want several pages on the history of bagels, or a multi-page discussion on the merits of bear baiting just because people generally bait bears with donuts. What does that have to do with anything? I know that the author wants to make this larger point about how donuts have come to symbolize this middle-American working class comfort food aesthetic, but by the time he is talking about church coffee hours and the fact that they sometimes involve donuts, I'm thinking when is this book going to be over? I never think, when is this donut going to be over. I want donuts to last forever. Not so with this book.
The early chapters about actual donut history are a little more interesting. I did learn some things about the evolution of the donut (thanks, Dutch people!) and about the differences between donuts and crullers, and the steps that led the humble donut to the hallowed position it holds today in the hearts and minds of decent, hard working Americans.
"The doughnut is both a complicated mirror into ourselves and society just as it provides a fine-grained vision of our desires and identities."
See what I mean? What the hell? I read that several times and I still don't really know what he's talking about. Isn't being a mirror and providing a vision the same thing? For a lot of this book the author sounds like (as another reviewer wrote) an undergrad trying to reach a page minimum. And he constantly repeats himself, telling the reader facts we already learned only two or three pages earlier. Blah.
I do want a donut though.

[Michael Randazzo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glazed America: a history of the doughnut written by Paul R. Mullins was an alright book. The booked was really basic and firm on facts about doughnuts. It was boring to read and was tough to finish because of the dullness of the book. Even though my favorite food are doughnuts, reading the book was a disappointment because the doughnuts was just a simple creation. Although there were some interesting facts and very true statements.

"A nutritious healthful food...enjoyed and relished by most people” (Mullins, 124).

I believe it is appropriate to challenge a belief when you have a different opinion. This is important because if we live in a society were everyone thinks the same way nothing will every change. The quote is a great sentence that can be debated on because everyone knows that doughnuts are unhealthy but a man named J. Howard Krum believes doughnuts are healthy. Different beliefs help a society change and keep it moving forward and that's how America started. People didn't agree with the king and started to rebel against the king. America is known for fighting for freedom. Well it's the same as challenging a belief because your fighting for something you love.

I would recommend this to people who want to know more about doughnuts and how they came about. Also the history of how doughnuts were involved with WW2.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This is called the "history" of the donut, but only the second chapter focuses on donut history, and it is just an overview, at that. This book is really an anthropological look at donuts as part of our culture, and that's not what I was interested in. I would've preferred a historian's perspective with more detail focused on actual evidence. There were definitely some historical nuggets embedded in the book, but you have to wade through a lot of philosophical meandering. He does bring up some interesting topics like why cops like donuts and the age old debate of donuts vs. bagels, but most of the commentary is superficial and there's lots of anecdotal quotes/stories from random people that are not particularly insightful or convincing. It was also very repetitive, and the writing generally pretty boring. Such a letdown for what could've been an awesome topic. I was not terribly impressed.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remember how back in high school you'd turn 1.5 pages of information into a 10 page paper? It wasn't horrible to read but it was obviously padded in every way possible? That's this book. Could have (And should have been) about 15 pages long but instead they turned it into a 167 page book. Not horrible but not worth reading.

Does have some nice pictures.

[Lauren orso · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want to write a book about the Simpsons and Canada, I AM NOT GOING TO STOP YOU, but don't trick me into reading it by framing it as a book about great American donutry, god damn it.

[Sam Markel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lmao…

[Jessica Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must have been suffering from a case of the old Sweet Tooth when Glazed America caught my eye at the library. The doughnuts on the cover do look mighty tempting. I do enjoy reading books about food so that may have had something to do with it as well.

Paul Mullins is an anthropology professor at Purdue University and in his book, Glazed America, he delves into the cultural and socio-economic history of doughnuts. Mullins presents doughnuts as an iconic American food that we have a love/hate relationship with. In the opening chapter “The Church of Krispy Kreme” , Mullins states the general thesis of the book:

People have remarkably strong sentiments about doughnuts, but many of us find it hard to elevate krullers to the status of mirrors for American society. We seem to harbor both fondness and embarrassment for doughnuts, and that ambivalence has complex roots. For many observers, doughnuts are symbols of temptation, unhealthiness, and personal weakness.

Mullins talks about how technological advances lead to the ability to mass-produce doughnuts, which in turn lead to the proliferation of doughnut shops across America. Mullins discusses the founding and expansion of the different doughnut chains such a Tim Horton’s, Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme.

I live pretty close to the birthplace of Dunkin Donuts. In fact, one of the Dunkin Donuts in my town is the busiest one in the nation. This is Dunkin country and most people I know LOVE to go to “Dunkys”, however most of those people state they love it for the coffee…no one ever says they love it for the doughnuts. Is this because of the “fatties love their doughnuts”-stigma that Mullins states Americans attach to doughnut consumption? I am one of those who gets coffee from DD way more often than I get doughnuts. For me, I prefer to “spend” my calories elsewhere, on something that I can savor more. Occasionally, I will splurge and get a doughnut, but usually from a place that bakes them from scratch on sight, such as Flour Bakery in Boston’s South End.

Glazed America is not so much about the history of the doughnut but rather is about the history of the doughnut’s place in American society and pop culture. I would have liked to have seen a little more about the doughnut itself such as the evolution of the different flavors, toppings and fillings. The book is chock full of black and white photos of doughnut shops and other doughnut-related paraphernalia.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, but it did have some repetitive moments. It was the repetition at times that made me give it three stars instead of four. In some ways, this read like an extended series of magazine articles. Now, leaving that out of the way, it is a pretty interesting book. The book does a few things. It gives a history of doughnuts and especially of doughnut shops in the U.S. Though there is a bit focus on the chains (Dunkin', Tim Hortons, and Krispy Kreme), there is discussion of independents and their role in that history. The book also gives a look at the social role that doughnuts play in American society from being served in church functions and in office settings to the shops being one of the few hangouts teens have given they are too young to drink. Third, it looks at the morality and ambivalence of feelings that doughnuts generate. Are they comfort food? Are they the devil incarnate when it comes to diet and food discipline? Something else? Why are they so appealing and yet so reviled depending on who you ask? The author does a pretty good job of conveying this conflict. And finally, there are also bits and pieces of the economic dynamics involved in the doughnut business from marketing to image. When you think about it, the book does cover an awful lot in a little volume, thus if you like microhistories, you will probably find this one interesting. And if nothing else, well, it is a pretty short read.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mullins has more to say about doughnuts than you would initially think possible. Though he does on occasion drift into over-scholarized tangents, the history of this iconic pastry is presented in the effective tradition of more recognized food historians and journalists like Mark Kurlansky (Salt: A World History) -- using doughnuts to take a fascinating look at contemporary social issues regarding race, class, and consumerism. If you are interested in food history, this is likely a book you will want to look into.

[Marilyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Save yourself some aggravation and boredom--go buy a donut and read anything EXCEPT this book. There was a golden opportunity here to explore the different kinds of donuts, how they get the filling in the
jelly donuts, the difference between yeast and cake donuts. Instead, the author decided to examine every uninteresting detail about donuts and their socio-economic impact. The holes in donuts are more interesting.

[Emily]

@ neither.
Hello? I totally should have thought of researching donuts in America. I live in America. I eat donuts. I might as well have gotten paid for it.

And oh my gosh the cover looks delicious! I think this book will make me want to eat donuts, same as 'Fast Food Nation' made me want fast food and 'The Emperors of Chocolate' and 'Candyfreak' made me want to eat candy LOTS of it.

[Lesley Looper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about the social and socioeconomic history of the doughnut in this books. The book didn't make me want a doughnut, but it gave me some things to think about re: doughnuts and their place in society through American history. I also enjoyed reading some about Krispy Kreme, which is based in the state where I live.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to ignore the reviews on this book, but you really can't after reading it. It's a short book and it took me so long to finish it. It was drawn out and even though I'm fascinated with the socioeconomic aspect of an American icon such as the donut, I read it more of a text book than a great non-fiction.

[Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apart from actually eating a doughnut, reading this book probably brings you closer to its essence than anything else could. To be fair, the book's doughnut history sections are its strongest, while some of the contemporary analyses of doughnuts in American culture fall flat.

[CLM]

Yum yum (and I don't mean Gilbert & Sullivan).

[Aimee]

Haha! A book about donuts! I'm all over this one...

[Dawn]

One of the better books I've read about the history of the doughnut.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good run through on the history of the dough nut, but I felt like I was reading a scholarly paper most of the time...

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read about a very polarized food, bad for your body, good for your soul.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally enjoy books about food history but this was just okay.

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the content of the book interesting, but the writing dry and long-winded.

[Kmilford · Rating 3 out of 5]

love the topic and tere was some good history/cultural content, but it was a bit slow.