For God, country and Coca-Cola
by Mark Pendergrast · first published 1993
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2011–2017first – last mentioned
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How did an innocuous soft drink, more than 99% sweetened water, come to be regarded as "the sublimated essence of all that America stands for"? For God, Country and Coca-Cola is a cultural, social, and economic history of America as seen through the green glass of a Coke bottle. And what a quintessentially American tale it is. Coca-Cola began humbly as a patent medicine amid the fervor and chaos of Reconstruction Atlanta. A shrewd marketeer saw its value as a beverage, and it rapidly grew through the Gilded Age to become the dominant consumer product of the American Century. The key to Coca-Co
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This recipe was published years ago in the book For God, Country and Coca-Cola by Mark Prendergast. He found it in the archives while researching the book. It is not the current recipe, as some changes have been made. Its an excellent book too, with the history of the new coke…
on “Coca Cola's secret recipe revealed?” ↗The book mentioned (For God, Country and Coca-Cola) is an excellent read, and very thorough. It actually includes the recipe in the back too(1). Coke has had many imitators over the years and fought vigourously to keep their name. They did want to…
on “What Happens to the Coke in Coca-Cola?” ↗Mark Pendergast's book For God, Country, and Coca-Cola linked in the references covers this and more and is a good read. It also has the recipe for Coke in the back and the story of how he found it.
on “White Coke” ↗…episode[1] discussing a potential early recipe for the drink, but almost certainly not the one in use today. Coke denied[2] that the program had discovered the true formula. In that episode, Mark Pendergrast, author of For God, Country, and Coca-Cola, an unauthorized history of the company (and beverage), told This American Life[3] that “only two people know how to mix the 7x flavoring ingredient” and that “[t]hose two people never travel on the same…
on “What Happens to the Coke in Coca-Cola?” ↗Coke men were given a lot of privileges during WW2. There is an entire section of "For God, Country and Coca-Cola" which is about this. Coca-Cola basically pledged to provide Coke for the soldiers everywhere they went. It was a publicity triumph, and also helped make sure Coke could keep getting the sugar they…
on “Andrew Higgins loved bourbon, cursed a lot and built the boats that won D-Day” ↗The recipe is published at the back of the book For God, Country and Coca-Cola. Now that you have the recipe, what could you actually do with it? Who would actually sell the product? How would you market it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_formula Once you have your recipe…
on “Ask HN: Can use the #1 supercomputer for any project I want. What should it be?” ↗