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Eric Schlosser Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Eric Schlosser
Photo: Jim Scherer

Eric Schlosser

Eric Schlosser Biography

Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, has written for Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, the Nation, and The New Yorker, among others. He has received a National Magazine Award and a Sidney Hillman Foundation Award for reporting. His books: Reefer Madness, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, and Chew on This which he has co-authored, have been national bestsellers. Fast Food Nation is assigned reading at universities across the country and was adapted to film in 2006.

His recent works include, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident and the Illusion of Safety (2013), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for History award, and Gods Of Metal (2015).

Schlosser has addressed the United States House of Representatives and Senate about the risk to the food supply from bioterrorism and has lectured at universities across the country, including his alma mater Princeton University, the University of California at Berkeley, Yale University, College of the Holy Cross, and Claremont College.



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Interview

Eric Schlosser shares some of the fascinating and often frightening facts about the "fast food" industry that are detailed in his books, Fast Food Nation and Chew on This (for children), and suggests what children can do to make a difference.

Kids love fast food. Why did you write a book for them about its history and harmful consequences?
An editor came up with the idea not long after the 2002 paperback publication of Fast Food Nation [Eric's best-selling exposé of the fast-food industry, written for adults]. We were drawn to the challenge of recasting the material for a younger readership. It seemed that the people who needed this information most didn't have a way to get it directly. We decided to write a book for young people that wouldn't be condescending, preachy, or hectoring. We hope that Chew on This respects the intelligence of its readers and challenges kids to think for themselves.

The fast-food industry spends billions of dollars every year marketing unhealthy food to children. We felt that kids needed to hear the other side of the story. The eating habits that a person develops as a child are difficult to break later. And if a child is obese by the age of thirteen, he or she is likely to remain obese for life. The nutritional education of American children shouldn't be left to the fast food, junk food, and...

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Books by this Author

Books by Eric Schlosser at BookBrowse
Command and Control jacket Chew on This jacket Fast Food Nation jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Eric Schlosser but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Jonathan Bloom

    Jonathan Bloom

    Jonathan Bloom is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. He lives with his wife and two sons in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Fast Food Nation

    Try:
    American Wasteland
    by Jonathan Bloom

  • Tyler Cowen

    Tyler Cowen

    Tyler Cowen is the Holbert C. Harris Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He received his PhD in Economics from Harvard University in 1987. He is a prominent blogger at marginalrevolution.com, the world's ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Fast Food Nation

    Try:
    An Economist Gets Lunch
    by Tyler Cowen

We recommend 16 similar authors


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