My work

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.

Two months ago the citizens of Berkeley, California, made a historic decision to impose a tax on sugary soft drinks sold in the city. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and their DC-based lobbying arm, the American Beverage Association, spent a lot of money—an estimated $2 million in Berkeley alone —to crush the measure. Their message was simple: “Taxes on food, beverages, and containers will be bad for the economy.”

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

From the very beginning, Coca-Cola had a drug problem. The brand’s founder, Atlanta pharmacist John Stith Pemberton, was addicted to morphine, a narcotic many suspected Pemberton began using after suffering a series of debilitating wounds while defending the city of Columbus, Georgia, during the Civil War.

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."

Many Atlantans would argue that Coca-Cola built their city. Take a look around and Coke's imprimatur seems to be on everything in sight, from the Woodruff Arts Center to Emory University to the World of Coca-Cola. As a high school student at Woodward Academy in College Park, I passed the visage of Coca-Cola's boss, Robert Woodruff, every day I entered the upper school's gates. The cigar-wielding statue of Woodruff was a constant reminder of Coke's contributions to my education.

Last month, the Coca-Cola Company made a big promise: it was going to help America lose weight. At the Clinton Global Initiative, Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper all agreed to reduce the sugary calories they sell by 20 percent in ten years, arguing that industry could be part of the solution in curbing a growing obesity epidemic. That’s right, Coke, a company that is currently the single largest consumer of sugar on the planet said it was now in the business of slimming down.

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.