Barons

Reviews / Votes

"Winner of the Food Issues & Matters Cookbook Award, International Association of Culinary Professionals" "One of Good Food's Best Books of 2025" "Winner of the Silver Nautilus Book Award in Journalism & Investigative Reporting" "One of Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2024" "Food & Water Watch's Book of the Year" "One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles of 2024" "One of Electric Literature's Best Books of Spring 2024" "In this eye-opening debut study, Frerick, an agricultural policy fellow at Yale University, reveals the ill-gained stranglehold that a handful of companies have on America's food economy...It's a disquieting critique of private monopolization of public necessities." * Publishers Weekly, starred * "Best Books of 2024: Frerick's prose throughout is both direct and masterfully controlled, with every point supported by extensive references and notes. This is no alarmist screed but rather a careful, systematic, and utterly damning demolition job-an exquisitely informed expose... A genuinely revelatory look at mass food production in the United States" * Kirkus Reviews, starred * "The Best Books of Spring 2024... Frerick yanks back the curtain on a truly astonishing collection of violations, legal and moral in the American food system... Despite the dire subject matter, Frerick is able to inject moments of humor and ends the book with sincere hope for change in the future if we are willing to work together to make a difference." * Electric Literature * "Frerick is a staunch Democrat, but if there is one issue where the left and the populist right can make common cause, it's farm policy.... Conservatives should read Frerick's book." * American Conservative * "After reading [Austin's] book, I have come away with a completely different idea of agriculture that I cannot unsee." * Bloomberg Odd Lots * "Each chapter of Frerick's book is based on a tremendous amount of research, as well as anecdotal scenes of the author's personal contacts with US agriculture. His prose is refreshingly accessible and nonacademic." * Los Angeles Review of Books * "Frerick's Barons is a breath of fresh air because it repeatedly calls out the corruption in the U.S. agriculture and food system and the U.S. political system... well written and accessible for multiple audiences... valuable for undergraduate and graduate courses. In fact, I intend to assign the book in my undergraduate courses." * Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development * "[Frerick] has a knack for making explicit the connections between policy and the concrete realities of people's lives... [Barons is] an indictment of our regulatory system and the many ways the government - under both Democratic and Republican administrations - has failed to break up monopolies, prevent them in the first place, or meaningfully hold them accountable for wrongdoing." * Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) * "Frerick's greatest strength is in drawing out the federal, state, and local policies (and policymakers) that fueled the rise of the captains of industry he profiles." * American Prospect * "Some may herald Barons as an overdue update of 'The Jungle,' the 1906 book by Upton Sinclair." * Bleeding Heartland * "[One of] my top book picks so far this year." * Bloomberg Odd Lots Newsletter * "In a carefully researched book, Frerick makes ordinary insider knowledge both compelling and urgent." * Daily Yonder * "Over the past half-century, we have witnessed a massive consolidation of every aspect of the agriculture and food industries into corporate megaliths, with a profound effect on American politics, culture and welfare. Austin Frerick's Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry is a brisk economic and social history of this dark revolution, steeped in policy and enlivened by anecdote." * Times Literary Supplement * "[Frerick] dissects not only the food barons' business practices, but also the disastrous impacts of these practices... The author, who frequently sounds as though he is fighting to control his personal rage at the people he's writing about, backs up his statements with facts and figures. This is an angry and accusatory book, but also a fair and well-documented one." * Booklist * "Frerick takes apart [the barons'] strategies patiently and methodically, almost as though he is turning an engine upside down to figure out its workings... Though his writing style is restrained, it simmers with damning facts and figures." * Ambrook Research * "Frerick's skill as both a serious academic and gifted storyteller keeps the pages turning as his colorful cast of characters build empires with everyday dinner items like pork chops, milk, coffee and strawberries." * The Farm & Food File * "Time will tell whether Austin Frerick's Barons joins that elite list [of classic books on the food system]. It certainly could given how well he's structured the story, how seamlessly he grapples with complex policy, and how effortlessly he guides readers through the consequences to so much of American real estate, so many communities, and so many people." * Mode Shift * "For readers with a serious interest in public policy and food production." * Library Journal * "The impact of these companies can be felt globally and makes the book essential reading." * Slow Food UK * "It's an important and compelling read...Frericks book... is a shot across the bow of the corporatocracy." * Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture * "Rookie Austin Frerick has smacked a homerun in his first swing at authoring a book." * Milkweed * "Through engaging and richly researched storytelling...Frerick deftly illuminates how decades of big-business-friendly government officials have worked to undermine and reverse labor, environmental and other laws." * Little Village Mag * "Although the vehicle of stories about each of these barons in turn is an interesting read, what I found most valuable was the final chapter where frerick lays out a way forward." * Marbleseed: Organic Broadcaster * "[Barons] Illuminates some dark and shady corners of our food system, where companies you've heard of and others you surely haven't operate in ways that ruthlessly seek profit at everyone else's expense." * The Equation: Union of Concerned Scientists * "Author Austin Frerick peppers the book with action and lurid anecdotes, but he prioritises deep analysis ...a highly researched yet digestible book." * The Grocer * "Outstanding Academic Titles 2024: Frerick (fellow, Yale Univ.) exposes the regulatory conditions that allowed seven barons to amass power and financial fortunes through the US food industry....This book could be used in the disciplines of social justice studies, political science, food studies, sociology, and urban planning." * Choice * "In this vivid and engaging book, author Austin Frerick exposes the chokehold that seven families have over the global food industry, and the ramifications of their consolidated power on farmers, consumers, ecosystems, and even democracy...Intensely readable..." * The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener * "In his highly readable book, Frerick describes the businesses of barons who dominate seven sectors of the US food industry. In the process he illuminates much in recent American history and goes a long way towards diagnosing environmental ills, socio-economic ills, and the ill health of so many food consumers.... For people not already deeply familiar with industrial agribusiness and its associated environmental, labor, health and political ills, Barons is a compelling read." * Resilience * "Each chapter in Frerick's book reflects his careful research and attention to facts, illuminating how food production and distribution has become big business in the USA." * Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management * "With authoritarianism and increasing corporate consolidation rising globally, Frerick's work is timely and urgent." * Journal of Peasant Studies * "Frerick builds his case methodically and in plain language, with empathy, extensive research, and even humor." * Sojourners * "Frerick connects their actions-from building enormous hog confinements to skirting safety laws-to the various health and climate threats ailing communities across Iowa, America and the globe." * Mother Jones * "A valuable contribution...[It] powerfully exposes how unchecked corporate greed is reshaping the American way of life in one of its most essential domains: food. It's also immensely entertaining to read. So whether you're interested in knowing who to name and shame for BigAg's evils, in learning how to tell people stories with policy relevance, or just looking for a juicy read, read the book!" * Revolving Door Project * "[A book] I just can't stop talking and thinking about... my favorite part of the book was how masterfully Frerick writes about the interconnectedness of our food systems with so many other aspects of our lives." * Reformed Journal * "[A] fascinating expose." * Current Affairs * "Written in accessible, nonacademic prose and grounded in rigorous research, this book is essential for anyone concerned about the future of food, farming, and democracy." * Slow Foods * "What a writer! Absolutely engaging. For the foreseeable future, this is the book I'm recommending to anyone who wants to learn about our food system more deeply" * Good Food * "A powerful expose of the transformation of the American food system" * Journal of Law and Political Economy * "Explores how a series of powerful actors in the American food industry built their empires by taking advantage of deregulation and promoting a radical laissez-faire ideology, highlighting the effects on workers, families, and communities." * Journal of Economic Literature * "An urgently important book."---Eric Schlosser, bestselling author of 'Fast Food Nation' "Wow. This is one important book... If you want to know how corporations control the food supply, start here."---Marion Nestle, Food Politics "Austin is one of the most important and exciting voices in the next generation, and he lays out a road map to bring about a delicious revolution that addresses climate, health, and taste."---Alice Waters, founder and owner of Chez Panisse "A roadmap for people to think through these issues and think deeper about what is needed to bring the food system back to principles of economic democracy, environmental quality, and opportunity in rural America."---Ken Cook, Founder and President of the Environmental Working Group "Frerick traces the items in our grocery carts to uncover a radical consolidation of economic power that has put our communities and democracy in jeopardy. Most importantly, he shows how none of this is inevitable, but rather the outcome of decisions that are in our power to change."---Stacy Mitchell, Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and author of 'Big-Box Swindle' "Barons is an explosive and absolutely riveting tour through a hidden world of big-money powerhouses that control our food system. Frerick is a fantastic storyteller, with the rare combination of on-the-ground empathy for rural communities and sparklingly brilliant analysis. This book is essential to understand our new food system, and the dangers it poses to everyone who eats."---Christopher Leonard, author of 'The Meat Racket' and 'Kochland' "Well-written, maddening, and inspiring, Frerick takes us into the power networks of food, and brings the reader out the other side deeply informed about the structural problems in the food system."---Zephyr Teachout, Professor of Law at Fordham Law School and author of 'Break 'Em Up and Corruption in America' "Austin Frerick shows just how much consolidation has devastated family farmers. But what makes Barons so good is how clearly he explains how those changes were caused by policies that benefit Wall Street and corporate America at the expense of everyone else."---Rob Larew, President of the National Farmers Union "Austin breaks down complex issues with plain language that is incredibly readable and engaging. I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the food we eat and how it is produced."---Wenonah Hauter, founder and Executive Director of Food & Water Watch "What is interesting about Barons is that it appeals to people on different spectrums politically and that's a rare achievement these days."---Michael T. Roberts, Professor of Policy at UCLA School of Law and Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy "Like Fast Food Nation and Omnivore's Dilemma, Austin Frerick's Barons tells a darkly fascinating story about our food system. With startling accounts of corporate behemoths and the regulatory failures that allowed them to amass unchecked power, destroying the family farm and the rural heartland along the way, Frerick makes an urgent case to structure our markets to protect our environment, our health and ultimately our democracy."---Robert Kenner, Director of 'Food, Inc.' and 'Food, Inc. 2' "Gripping and important - Frerick's portraits are vivid and unsettling about what America's radical laissez-faire ideology has done to the global food system."---Tommaso Valletti, Professor of Economics at Imperial College London and former Chief Competition Economist at the European Commission "In this urgent book, Frerick counts the tyrannies, thefts, and treacheries that every eater in America suffers, so that a few might live high on the hog. Deeply researched, painfully felt and brilliant, Barons is an instant classic of investigative journalism and food system analysis."---Raj Patel, Research Professor at UT-Austin and author of 'Stuffed and Starved' and 'A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things'