Bryant Simon
Everything but the Coffee
Learning about America from Starbucks
$25.95, £17.95 hardcover
9780520261068
Available Now
320 pages, 6 x 9 inches
October 2009, Available worldwide
October 2009, Available worldwide
Everything but the Coffee casts a fresh eye on the world's most famous coffee company, looking beyond baristas, movie cameos, and Paul McCartney CDs to understand what Starbucks can tell us about America. Bryant Simon visited hundreds of Starbucks around the world to ask, Why did Starbucks take hold so quickly with consumers? What did it seem to provide over and above a decent cup of coffee? Why at the moment of Starbucks' profit-generating peak did the company lose its way, leaving observers baffled about how it might regain its customers and its cultural significance? Everything but the Coffee probes the company's psychological, emotional, political, and sociological power to discover how Starbucks' explosive success and rapid deflation exemplify American culture at this historical moment. Most importantly, it shows that Starbucks speaks to a deeply felt American need for predictability and class standing, community and authenticity, revealing that Starbucks' appeal lies not in the product it sells but in the easily consumed identity it offers.
"When Bryant Simon's book, Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks arrived in my mail, I thought, great, just what we need: another book by an academic that attempts to understand the world through a simplistic lens, like salt, sushi or coffee. That this genre sells well probably motivated Simon's publisher. But Simon's book is better and more honest than most of the genre in recognizing the limitations of both author and subject. . . . Simon shows us how we really live, and it ain't pretty. There was a time, not so long ago, Simon reminds us, that many of us wondered why people would pay so much money for a cup of coffee—even as we were edging closer in line to place our own order."—In These Times
"Those who frequent Starbucks will enjoy Simon's range of topics, from business matters to the music played to the (very American) concept of 'self-gifting.'"—Publishers Weekly
"Those who frequent Starbucks will enjoy Simon's range of topics, from business matters to the music played to the (very American) concept of 'self-gifting.'"—Publishers Weekly
"Simon knows more about Starbucks—and about why so many Americans find perfection in their lattes—than anyone. He connects our deepest desires to be good, smart, ethical consumers with our equally strong yearning to consume in an authentic way. Our coffee, Simon shows, is us."—Sharon Zukin, author of Naked City
Acknowledgments ix
Introducing the Starbucks Moment 1
1. Real Coffee 21
2. Predictability the Individual Way 58
3. It Looks like a Third Place 82
4. Self-Gifting and Retail Therapy 122
5. Hear Music for Everyday Discoverers 149
6. Not-So-Green Cups 173
7. Sleeping Soundly in the Age of Globalization 201
Afterword 239
A Note on the Research 247
Notes 253
Selected Bibliography 279
Index 289
Introducing the Starbucks Moment 1
1. Real Coffee 21
2. Predictability the Individual Way 58
3. It Looks like a Third Place 82
4. Self-Gifting and Retail Therapy 122
5. Hear Music for Everyday Discoverers 149
6. Not-So-Green Cups 173
7. Sleeping Soundly in the Age of Globalization 201
Afterword 239
A Note on the Research 247
Notes 253
Selected Bibliography 279
Index 289
January 12, 2010
Where: CHANGING HANDS
Address: 6428 S MCCLINTOCK DR, TEMPE, AZ 85283
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January 14, 2010 [ 7:00 PM ]
Where: ELLIOTT BAY BOOK CO.
Address: 101 S. Main Street, Seattle, WA 98104
Event Details
Where: CHANGING HANDS
Address: 6428 S MCCLINTOCK DR, TEMPE, AZ 85283
changinghands.com
January 14, 2010 [ 7:00 PM ]
Where: ELLIOTT BAY BOOK CO.
Address: 101 S. Main Street, Seattle, WA 98104
Event Details
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