I first encountered Eric Schlosser's [1] writing in Rolling Stone magazine in my teen years. His story took me inside a slaughterhouse, and I never looked at a hamburger the same way again. Later on I read Fast Food Nation [2], and gave up eating at the big fast food places altogether. I also learned a lot about the far-reaching implications of the fast food industry. It affects the service industry, real estate, agriculture and has psychological and physiological effects on children. His writing is articulate and informative, with incredible detail and endless footnotes, but it still flows easily and keeps you turning the pages.
Since the book came out I heard tell of another project of his, which was supposed to be about the prison system. I would google him every once in a while to check on it, but all I ever saw were references to the book being written. Tonight I thought of the book and again decided to check for the status. Only now instead of reinventing the wheel and reading the same old interviews every year, I decided to track what I found, and piece together the story of the eagerly anticipated book.
- Interview [3] with Powell's on 01/23/02
- expected to finish the book by Fall of that year
- Article [4] published on 10/14/03
- expected to finish the book by that Fall or following Spring
- Interview [5] in The Guardian on 04/22/06
- he said he was working on it, but not timeframe was given
- Interview [6] with the A.V. Club on 11/14/06
- planning to finish in four or five months (Mar-Apr 2007)
It makes sense that the book is coming out later than expected, since he has worked on two big projects in the meantime: Chew on This [7], a book for kids about the fast food industry, and a dramatized version of Fast Food Nation [8] for the big screen. I'm really glad that the ideas from Fast Food Nation are being spread. There seems to be a growing awareness of the importance of whole, local foods, which is good for small businesses, small farmers, service industry employees, and of course anyone that eats and drinks.
But I still really wanna read that prison book...
In the meantime, I might dive into a book called Newjack [9] which Eric mentioned in an interview. The author Ted Conover spent a year as a prison guard at Sing Sing, and wrote about his experiences. Sounds quite eye-opening.