Media

You might think of Coca-Cola as an iconic American brand… and you’d be right. But, it was born in the South. How did Coke’s Atlanta birthplace shape what the soft drink became? And how has Coke shaped the South? It’s a story that includes many surprising twists and turns, from Civil War wounds to temperance movements, racist fears to philanthropy, and small-town soda jerks to Peruvian coca farmers. Tina Antolini speaks with Bart Elmore about these topics and more in this episode of the Southern Foodways Alliance's Gravy podcast.

Bart Elmore's talk at the Southern Foodways Alliance Fall Symposium about how Citizen Coke is a corn syrup-fueled global phenomenon.

David Butler, VP Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Coca-Cola, and an environmental historian, Bartow Elmore, make the case for and against Coke.

Isabelle Szmigin writes about the not-so-secret formula underpinning a highly profitable global model, and Karen Shook offers an in-depth profile of author Bart Elmore.

Coke is indeed ‘the real thing’ if reality is about shrewdly offloading risk and responsibility in order to make loads of money. In Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism, Bartow J. Elmore, an environmental historian at the University of Alabama, tells us that the answer isn’t “either/or.” Citizen Coke and Killer Coke are conjoined twins, each providing the other with essential life support.

The New York Times Sunday Book Review of Bart Elmore's Citizen Coke.

In this Wall Street Journal book review of Citizen Coke, Marc Levinson proclaims that "[Elmore] examines an old story in a very new way, offering unaccustomed perspectives on a company whose leading product is a household name around the globe."

Host Brian Balogh talks to historian Bart Elmore about how the Coca-Cola corporation explored an unusual 'secret formula' for economic organization and success, radically different from other large companies of its age.