Throughout history, investigative journalists have and continue to expose injustices and corruption in America and across the world. In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser retells the history of the fast food industry and exposes its unsanitary environment, unhealthy product composition, and dangerous practices. One could compare this book’s subject to that of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which exposed the terrible conditions of the meatpacking industry, something Schlosser also discusses within the book. While the conditions of the fast food industry as a whole may be shocking at first, the reader could either drastically change their lifestyle based on the facts presented, or just push them to the back of their mind.
Since the conclusion of World War II, the fast food industry’s place in America and its economy has rapidly grown. The industry grew along with the automobile industry, which allowed customers easier access to the food establishments. Throughout the book, Schlosser mainly focuses on McDonald’s since he credits it with inspiring many of today’s popular fast food chains. Schlosser retells McDonald’s rise to popularity, but also the dark side of its
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Throughout the book, Schlosser cites numerous sources and even includes a bibliography of them. For example, he cites the memoir of Ray Kroc, the person credited with creating McDonald’s rise to fame: “‘Eventually I opened a McDonald’s across the street from that store, which they had renamed The Big M,’ Kroc proudly noted in his memoir, and it ran them out of business’” (97 Schlosser). This and the other sources cited help establish a credible ethos. Schlosser cited reliable sources throughout his work, causing readers to trust him more after seeing the sources