Big Mac: The Unauthorized Story Of McDonald's

by Max Boas, Steve Chain

Chronicles the rise and expansion of the nation's number-one fast-food chain and the Horatio Alger life of founder Ray Albert Kroc

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Business

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Diana Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess you'd say it's dated, but still very interesting reading. Perhaps even more so bc it is (comparatively) close to the company's founding & rise that if it had been written today. Bizarrely includes a chapter on Colonel Harland Sanders and the KFC story. Unusual closing sentence...
Good, irreverent, reportage

[Grindy Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky history (very quirky - there's a chapter on Colonel Sanders) that holds up very well, almost 40 years after publication.

[Big Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

FATHER! I HAVE FOUND YOU! 💦💦💦

[Corban Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um, well, it was a book covering the history of McDonald's up to the year 1976, and...well I read it, and well...yeah, that should just about cover it.

[Degrassi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb account of the dark side of McDonald's, and it's quite gritty for sure, and I'm not sure really McDonald's would approve to be honest, but still.

[Roland · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating early look at McDonald's that details a ton of lesser-known issues involving the franchise from early on. For instance, I had no idea that San Francisco was able to prevent a McDonald's from opening there for over a year, or that McDonald's thought their American policy of opening a location in the suburbs would work just as well in Japan, a country that promptly flooded the new location with a ton of imitators, kicking off a "hamburger war." The only downside to this book is the rather abrupt ending, and that the McDonald's brothers are hardly given any mention at all. In fact, David Halberstam's chapter on McDonald's in his book The Fifties gives much richer view of how innovative the brothers were, and gives them due credit instead of continuing on the Ray Kroc: Founder narrative that has come to dominate all talk of the franchise.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and told in a snappy journalistic style, this looks at various aspects of the birth and rise of McDonalds in a somewhat haphazard fashion. It's good on the characters and their personalities and motivations, but doesn't deliver much on the blurb's promise to reveal the corruption and dodgy dealings inside, with the exception of some mentions of shady real estate deals and some forms of economic exploitation which are pretty much standard practice.
It was published forty years ago and so there's little mention of the health issues surrounding the food itself. Still, as a portrait of a certain style of self-made American capitalist it's entertaining and informative.
It comes to a bizarrely abrupt and inconclusive end, though.

[Bill]

Written by Ed McBain under the pseudonym Richard Marsten

[Rasputia Ching Chong]

This is just................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................AMAZING!!!!