«If you only read a handful of non-fiction books this year, [Bananas] is among your recommended five portions»

* Observer *

«

Engagingly told . . . Delightful cameos of Carmen Miranda, Andy Warhol and Evelyn Waugh . . . Best is Chapman's account of the precarious ecology of the modern banana

»

* Independent *

«The term banana republic has become so divested of meaning that it's been adopted by a mid-range clothing chain. Its sobering reality is spelled out in this clear, dryly witty account of United Fruit»

* Metro *

«Excellent, darkly humorous expose»

* Herald *

«A tale of corporate skulduggery, an irreversible lesson in agricultural folly and a musing on the banana's place on our collective palate . . . An impressive indictment of a deeply flawed corporation»

* The Nation *

«Any tinpot regime these days tends to get called a banana republic. We have to remember they were real, vicious and bloody regimes set up and toppled at the behest of US fruit companies. Those corporations gave globalisation a bad name before we even used the term, and Peter Chapman's racy but erudite read constantly makes you wonder how much has changed»

* New Scientist *

«A gripping story of the ebbs and flows of US capitalism»

* Guardian *

«[An] insightful history of the company . . . [A] witty, energetic narrative»

* New York Times Book Review *

«A powerful example from the past . . . a century-long tale of plunder, bribery, corruption, labour abuse, death squads, military coups and war»

* Financial Times *