The Fish That Ate The Whale By Rich Cohen
A Book Review
The Fish That Ate The Banana by Rich Cohen
What a thrilling read!
It read like a movie that was moving faster than trains.
Rich Cohen is an absorbing writer. This is the story of The Banana Man, Samuel Zemmuray. The Banana Man arrived in America from Europe without a single dime to his name. By the time he died in 1961, he was worth 30 Million dollars. He will be a billionaire today. Sam was not just one of the richest men of his age, he was one of the most cunning, the most insightful, and the most ruthless. In his career, he will attempt to topple 3 governments and succeed in two.
He toppled the government in Honduras. This was particularly fascinating. In the case of Honduras, he toppled the government despite an official warning from the United States Government official. The US Government wanted the Honduran government to implement a tax policy, which would have affected Sam’s business interest. The Secretary of State personally reached out to Sam to warn him against any interference telling him to get out of the way.
Sam stepped out of the way and let the US government have its way. By the way, it is the US Government, his government. That’s what he did, right? Wrong! Sam left, pursued a different. He self-sponsored a revolution that toppled the government, the new government granted him concessions for decades. Incredible!
In Guatemala, he sponsored another coup again. This time, he dribbled the US Government into toppling a government. Using the fear of communism, he convinced the people that the government in Guatemala was a communist regime, this pushed the US Government to use the CIA to cause a regime change. A few years later, it was Cuba attempted to change its government. This failed.
You will be right to hate Sam already, but that’s all that’s about the man. He supported the causes such as education, community development, the safety of Jews during the Second World War, and the establishment of the Jewish state. Sam was a complicated man.
I’m still baffled by the fact that all his wealth was built in the banana business. He was all about bananas and nothing else. This mere banana we eat every day. That tells us something, the proverb that a man who is diligent will stand before kings are true in whatever area. He spent nearly half a century in the same industry. He devoted significant time to understanding his business from planting to the final distribution, in the end, he built a behemoth.
Sam Zemurray is the perfect life to use to see both the beauty of capitalism and its ugliness. From having completely nothing, he became the wealthiest man of his age, but he didn’t stop at that, he also became the oppressor of people and the "toppler" of governments. We can spend all the while moralizing about Sam, or we can look at his life and learn so many lessons, both will not be wrong!
Rich Cohen is an incredible storyteller! I loved this writing. So good.
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