How to Pronounce
Shoulda Coulda Oiled
Related Pronunciations
- Coulda Woulda Shoulda
- Shoulda Coulda Woulda
- Shoulda Woulda Coulda
- Woulda Coulda Shoulda
- Coulda
- Shoulda
- Oiled
- Shoulda Lean
- Ass-oiled
- Oiled Silk
- Well-Oiled
- Well Oiled
- Oiled Up
- Re Oiled
- Bell-oiled
- Well-oiled
- Fresh-oiled
- Reinforced Oiled
- Oiled Liner
- Be Oiled
- Oiled Clogs
- Oiled Machine
- Clearly Oiled
- Oiled Chinaware
- Could’ve
- Shoulda Been There
- Burnt Shoulda Learnt
- "Shoulda Rolled" Guy
- Well-oiled Machine
- Wind-oiled Sea
- Oiled Down For
- Oiled Well From
- Well Oiled Machine
- It Never Coulda Been
- Took me over to your house to meet your family Introduce me to them, saying that you'd marry me Then you'd look me in the eye and say, "It's just a joke" Then you'd kiss me and I'd smile, did you even know? When you'd say that kinda thing, I'd be excited Got me hoping maybe one day you would mean it Always thought I'd only make a fool of someone else Now you've only gone and made me make one of myself I guess that flowers aren't just used for big apologies I guess I should've been more conscious how you spoke to me 'Cause when we'd fight, you'd give me space and not communicate And for a while I thought that's what I should appreciate Maybe I was holding onto what I thought you were But when you think too hard, eventually it starts to hurt The version of you in my head, now I know wasn't true Young people fall for the wrong people, guess my one was you I was getting any flight so we could make it work You'd ignore me, coulda told me you were seeing her Kinda hate myself for justifying your mistakes Took a minute but I learned that shit the hard way Who are you to tell me I can't be heartbroken? Babe, you had the chance, the door for you was open If it's what you need to tell yourself to sleep at night Pretend I haven't found a man who finally treats me right I guess that flowers aren't just used for big apologies I guess I should've been more conscious how you spoke to me 'Cause when we'd fight, you'd give me space and not communicate And for a while I thought that's what I should appreciate Maybe I was holding onto what I thought you were But when you think too hard, eventually it starts to hurt The version of you in my head, now I know wasn't true Young people fall for the wrong people, guess my one was you If there's anything I've learned, it's you should watch yourself If it's hurting you, then leave and go and get some help
- Most Woaded powerful Woaded intense Woaded vibrant Woaded bold Woaded daring Woaded fiery Woaded passionate Woaded dynamic Woaded energetic Woaded lively Woaded exciting Woaded thrilling Woaded adventurous Woaded courageous Woaded fearless Woaded brave Woaded determined Woaded resolute Woaded tenacious Woaded persistent Woaded strong Woaded steadfast Woaded robust Woaded hardy Woaded tough Woaded rugged Woaded sturdy Woaded fierce Woaded wild Woaded untamed Woaded unrestrained Woaded unbridled Woaded uninhibited Woaded uncontrolled Woaded uncontrollable Woaded unstoppable Woaded unyielding Woaded unshakeable Woaded unbreakable Woaded invincible Woaded indomitable Woaded unbeatable Woaded unshakeable Woaded unassailable Woaded unflinching Woaded unwavering Woaded unperturbed Woaded unswerving Woaded unbowed Woaded unflagging Woaded unrelenting Woaded uncompromising Woaded unfaltering Woaded unshakable Woaded unflappable Woaded undaunted Woaded unflustered Woaded unblinking Woaded undeterred Woaded unwavering Woaded unmoved Woaded unflinching Woaded unbroken Woaded unbending Woaded unyielding Woaded unswayable Woaded uninfluenced Woaded unfluctuating Woaded unfailing Woaded unending Woaded unhindered Woaded unstressed Woaded untroubled Woaded unphased Woaded unruffled Woaded unperturbed Woaded unworried Woaded unanxious Woaded unfazed Woaded unagitated Woaded unbothered Woaded unconcerned Woaded unrattled Woaded unmoved Woaded unalarmed Woaded undisturbed Woaded untroubled Woaded unperturbed Woaded unalarmed Woaded unflappable Woaded unruffled Woaded unshakeable Woaded unconquerable Woaded unrivaled Woaded unexcelled Woaded unequaled Woaded unmatched Woaded unparalleled Woaded unsurpassed Woaded unbeatable Woaded unexampled Woaded unsurpassable Woaded unprecedented Woaded unconquered Woaded unsubdued Woaded unvanquished Woaded unprevailed Woaded unbested Woaded unovercome Woaded unmastered Woaded unconquered Woaded unwinning Woaded unyielded Woaded unsuccumbed Woaded untamed Woaded unsubdued Woaded unvanquished Woaded unbowed Woaded unquelled Woaded unsubmissive Woaded undefeated Woaded unvanquished Woaded unsubdued Woaded unconquered Woaded unoverthrown Woaded unbeaten Woaded unexceeded Woaded unpassed Woaded unsurmounted Woaded unoutdone Woaded unsurvived Woaded unthin Woaded unslackened Woaded untightened Woaded unloosed Woaded unopen Woaded unstretched Woaded unyielded Woaded unlaxed Woaded unpulled Woaded unstrained Woaded unlaxed Woaded unforced Woaded unrigid Woaded untensed Woaded unstressed Woaded untaut Woaded unhard Woaded unstiff Woaded untight Woaded unbraced Woaded unstrained Woaded unrelentingly Woaded unceasingly Woaded uninterruptedly Woaded unendingly Woaded unendingly Woaded unceasingly Woaded unstoppably Woaded unending Woaded unceasing Woaded uninterrupted Woaded unstopping Woaded unhindering Woaded unflaggingly Woaded untiringly Woaded unwearyingly Woaded unfalteringly Woaded unwaveringly Woaded unyieldingly Woaded unswervingly Woaded undyingly Woaded unchangingly Woaded unvaryingly Woaded unalterably Woaded unflinchingly Woaded unalterably Woaded unvaryingly Woaded undeviatingly Woaded undeviatingly Woaded unflinchingly Woaded unvaryingly Woaded unswervingly Woaded unying Woaded unflinchingly Woaded unpacified Woaded unapologetic Woaded unrepentant Woaded unremorseful Woaded uncontrite Woaded unashamed Woaded unconcerned Woaded unworried Woaded undisturbed Woaded unconcerned Woaded untroubled Woaded unperturbed Woaded unalarmed Woaded unshaken Woaded unbothered Woaded undeterred Woaded unintimidated Woaded unafraid Woaded unscared Woaded unalarmed Woaded unfearful Woaded unawed Woaded unblinking Woaded unintimidated Woaded unscared Woaded unalarmed Woaded unswayed Woaded unmoved Woaded unaffected Woaded unruffled Woaded unperturbed Woaded unflustered Woaded untroubled Woaded unworried Woaded unanxious Woaded unperturbed Woaded unconcerned Woaded undisturbed Woaded unalarmed Woaded untroubled Woaded unmoved Woaded unshaken Woaded unbothered Woaded unconcerned Woaded unworried Woaded unperturbed Woaded undaunted Woaded unfazed Woaded unawed Woaded unflinching Woaded unshakable Woaded uninhibited Woaded unyielding Woaded unshakeable Woaded unflappable Woaded unperturbed Woaded unshaken Woaded unwavering Woaded unflustered Woaded untroubled Woaded unworried Woaded unmoved Woaded unalarmed Woaded undisturbed Woaded unmoved Woaded unruffled Woaded unflappable Woaded unaffected Woaded untroubled Woaded unperturbed Woaded unworried Woaded unanxious Woaded undisturbed Woaded unalarmed Woaded unshaken Woaded unperturbed Woaded unshaken Woaded unalarmed Woaded unperturbed Woaded undaunted Woaded unfazed Woaded unawed Woaded unflinching Woaded unswayed Woaded unmoved Woaded unaffected Woaded untroubled Woaded unworried Woaded unanxious Woaded unperturbed Woaded undisturbed Woaded unalarmed Woaded unshaken Woaded unworried Woaded unalarmed Woaded unshaken Woaded unworried Woaded unmoved Woaded untroubled Woaded unaffected Woaded unperturbed Woaded unalarmed Woaded undisturbed Woaded undistracted Woaded undiverted Woaded undeterred Woaded undelayed Woaded unhurried Woaded unspeeded Woaded uninhibited Woaded unrestrained Woaded unimpeded Woaded unhampered Woaded unrestricted Woaded unchecked Woaded unbridled Woaded uncontrolled Woaded unconstrained Woaded uninfluenced Woaded unbound Woaded unchained Woaded unleashed Woaded unrepressed Woaded unhindered Woaded uninhibited Woaded untrammeled Woaded unstifled Woaded unsmothered Woaded unblockages Woaded unobstructed Woaded unclogged Woaded unlimited Woaded unrestricted Woaded unbarricaded Woaded unencumbered Woaded unshackled Woaded unburdened Woaded unhampered Woaded unfettered Woaded unrestricted Woaded unobstructed Woaded undelayed Woaded undistracted Woaded undiverted Woaded uncircumscribed Woaded opulent Woaded sumptuous Woaded luxurious Woaded rich Woaded affluent Woaded wealthy Woaded prosperous Woaded well-off Woaded well-to-do Woaded comfortable Woaded flush Woaded loaded Woaded moneyed Woaded deep-pocketed Woaded well-heeled Woaded well-fixed Woaded well-situated Woaded well-kept Woaded well-maintained Woaded well-regarded Woaded well-respected Woaded well-liked Woaded well-received Woaded well-known Woaded well-accomplished Woaded well-informed Woaded well-read Woaded well-traveled Woaded well-rounded Woaded well-developed Woaded well-educated Woaded well-behaved Woaded well-trained Woaded well-instructed Woaded well-oiled Woaded well-prepared Woaded well-organized Woaded well-ordered Woaded well-mannered Woaded well-mannered Woaded well-spoken Woaded well-thought-out Woaded well-honed Woaded well-regulated Woaded well-handled Woaded well-coordinated Woaded well-balanced Woaded well-adjusted Woaded well-grounded Woaded well-structured Woaded well-planned Woaded well-executed Woaded well-orchestrated Woaded well-arranged Woaded well-put-together Woaded well-assembled Woaded well-coordinated Woaded well-oiled Woaded well-constructed Woaded well-crafted Woaded well-built Woaded well-made Woaded well-formed Woaded well-designed Woaded well-thought-out Woaded well-intentioned Woaded well-considered Woaded well-planned Woaded well-executed Woaded well-organized Woaded well-run Woaded well-maintained Woaded well-kept Woaded well-managed Woaded well-supplied Woaded well-stocked Woaded well-provisioned Woaded well-nourished Woaded well-fed Woaded well-hydrated Woaded well-exercised Woaded well-read Woaded well-analyzed Woaded well-researched Woaded well-studied Woaded well-thought-out Woaded well-considered Woaded well-weighed Woaded well-measured Woaded well-received Woaded well-rated Woaded well-reviewed Woaded well-respected Woaded well-regarded Woaded well-recognized Woaded well-remembered Woaded well-recalled Woaded well-liked Woaded well-received Woaded well-recommended Woaded well-referred Woaded well-regarded Woaded well-remembered Woaded well-respected Woaded well-liked Woaded well-received Woaded well-loved Woaded well-respected Woaded well-rewarded Woaded well-served Woaded well-spoken Woaded well-understood Woaded well-oiled Woaded well-organized Woaded well-prepared Woaded well-qualified Woaded well-rewarded Woaded well-satisfied Woaded well-set Woaded well-situated Woaded well-served Woaded well-skilled Woaded well-stocked Woaded well-studied Woaded well-sustained Woaded well-taught Woaded well-thought Woaded well-trained Woaded well-used Woaded well-versed Woaded well-visited Woaded well-wined Woaded well-worn Woaded well-woven Woaded well-written Woaded well-ended Woaded well-backed Woaded well-cooked Woaded well-endowed Woaded well-finished Woaded well-furnished Woaded well-heeled Woaded well-howed Woaded well-inked Woaded well-mannered Woaded well-marked Woaded well-mixed Woaded well-needed Woaded well-placed Woaded well-rounded Woaded well-vexed Woaded well-washed Woaded well-wielded Woaded well-angle Woaded well-arm Woaded well-arose Woaded well-behaved Woaded well-beg Woaded well-blest Woaded well-bug Woaded well-borne Woaded well-bred Woaded well-breathed Woaded well-brought Woaded well-clean Woaded well-come Woaded well-drove Woaded well-dressed Woaded well-dyed Woaded well-fork Woaded well-found Woaded well-husbanded Woaded well-known Woaded well-laid Woaded well-laid Woaded well-leap Woaded well-liched Woaded well-liked Woaded well-lost Woaded well-mad Woaded well-manured Woaded well-omer Woaded well-part Woaded well-preed Woaded well-preserved Woaded well-read Woaded well-regarded Woaded well-remembered Woaded well-reputed Woaded well-seen Woaded well-sewed Woaded well-set Woaded well-shapen Woaded well-shed Woaded well-shooed Woaded well-skerved Woaded well-smelled Woaded well-softed Woaded well-spoken Woaded well-sprayed Woaded well-treated Woaded well-tuned Woaded well-used Woaded well-valued Woaded well-weighed Woaded well-whisped Woaded well-willed Woaded well-worded Woaded well-worthed Woaded well-bounded Woaded well-cast Woaded well-charged Woaded well-choked Woaded well-comed Woaded well-dealt Woaded well-desires Woaded well-diverted Woaded well-driven Woaded well-exacting Woaded well-expressed Woaded well-famed Woaded well-fed Woaded well-fisted Woaded well-governmented Woaded well-informed Woaded well-lighted Woaded well-misconceived Woaded well-observed Woaded well-perceived Woaded well-perused Woaded well-recollected Woaded well-repented Woaded well-rule Woaded well-ruled Woaded well-supplied Woaded well-us Woaded well-waited Woaded well-wove Woaded well-worked Woaded well-written Woaded well-accustomated Woaded well-acknowledged Woaded well-afforded Woaded well-applied Woaded well-argued Woaded well-assorted Woaded well-chosen Woaded well-closed Woaded well-coated Woaded well-coordinated Woaded well-crafted Woaded
- First, I love learning about different industries and commodities, how they developed over time, often over millennia, shaping world markets and modern political economies (e.g. cotton, gold, salt, cod, petroleum). “The Fish” provides a fascinating introduction to the world of bananas, a fruit that every American today knows and most of whom love on their breakfast cereal or as a mid-day, nutritious snack. Only, as I learned, bananas aren’t actually a fruit and little more than a century ago they were far from common, but rather quite exotic, a true luxury, displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition to crowds of gawking onlookers as if it came from another planet. Indeed, according to the author, a banana in 1900 was as unusual to the average American as an African cucumber is today. There’s a lot about the very familiar banana that I never knew. For instance, Cohen explains that the banana tree is actually the world’s largest herb, and thus its offspring, the banana, are technically berries. Even more fascinating, bananas grow from rhizomes, not seeds. In other words, cut appendages continue to grow, replicating the original. As Cohen describes it: “When you look at a banana, you’re looking at every banana, an infinite regression. There are no mutts, only the first fruit of a particular species and billions of copies. Every banana is a clone, in other words, a replica of an ur-banana that weighed on its stalk the first morning of man.” Believe it or not, the story of the banana gets even crazier. If you’ve ever wondered why old black-and-white films joked about slipping on a banana peel even though the banana peel that you’ve long known doesn’t feel particularly slippery, that’s because we have completely different bananas today. In the early nineteenth century, Americans were introduced to the “Big Mike,” a variety of banana that went extinct in 1965. It was bigger, tastier and more robust than the bananas we have today, according to Cohen, and their peels were far more slippery. The bananas we eat today are known as “Cavendish,” their primary benefit being immunity to the Panama disease that wiped out the Big Mike. Again, because bananas are all exact genetic copies, they are highly susceptible to rapid eradication from disease. Second, I’m a sucker for a great rags-to-riches story. The tale of Samuel Zemurray delivers that in spades. He arrived in America in 1891, a penniless Jew from what today is Moldova, and settled in the Deep South. (It may surprise many Americans but the South was far more hospitable to Jews for most our history. For instance, Jefferson Davis had two Jews in his Cabinet; Lincoln had none.) While still in his teens Zemurray recognized a business opportunity where other only saw trash: the ripe bananas that Boston Fruit discarded along the rail line in Mobile, Alabama before shipping off to Chicago and other northern metropolitan destinations. Zemurray was a natural entrepreneur; he had no particular affinity for bananas, it was just the opportunity at hand. “If he had settled in Chicago,” Cohen writes, “it would have been beef; if Pittsburgh, steel; if L.A., movies.” Zemurray quickly turned one man’s trash into cash, renting a boxcar to carry the castoff bananas along the slow rail route through the South, selling his cargo to local merchants at each Podunk rail stop until either his inventory ran out or spoiled. From such humble beginnings did a great international trading company eventually take root, Cuyamel Fruit, named after the river separating Honduras and Guatemala, the heartland of banana growing. By 1925, Cuyamel Fruit Company, the creation of an upstart Jewish immigrant banana jobber, had emerged as a serious threat to United Fruit, the undisputed king of the industry, a company that was led by Boston’s best, the sons of Brahmins. The threat was not because of Cuyamel’s size. In most ways United Fruit still dominated its aggressive rival (i.e. United Fruit was harvesting 40 million bunches a year with 150,000 employees and working capital of $27m, compared to Cuyamel’s 8 million bunches, 10,000 employees and $3m in working capital). The threat was that Cuyamel was a better run business and more innovative, leading the way with selective pruning, drainage, silting, staking and overhead irrigation. “U.F. was a conglomerate, a collection of firms bought up and slapped together,” Cohen writes. Cuyamel, by contrast, was a well-oiled machine, vertically integrated and led from the front by Zemurray, the ultimate owner-manager-worker. Cuyamel’s success was certainly no accident. It was the product of hard work, an obsessed owner-operator who understood his business at a visceral level, a skill earned over decades of hard, unglamorous work. Zemurray adhered to his own, classically American immigrant code of conduct: “get up first, work harder, get your hands in the dirt and the blood in your eyes.” Cohen describes his commitment and ultimate advantage this way: “Zemurray worked in the fields beside his engineers, planters, and machete men. He was deep in the muck, sweat covered, swinging a blade. He helped map the plantations, plant the rhizomes, clear the weeds, lay the track…unlike most of his competitors, he understood every part of the business, from the executive suite where the stock was manipulated to the ripening room where the green fruit turned yellow…By the time he was forty, he had served in every position from fruit jobber to boss. He worked on the docks, on the ships and railroads, in the fields and warehouses. He had ridden the mules. He had managed the fruit and money, the mercenaries and government men. He understood the meaning of every change in the weather, the significance of every date on the calendar.” Indeed, dedicated immigrants like Sam Zemurray have made America great. There’s nothing wrong with doing grunt work. In fact, it’s essential. United Fruit bought out Cuyamel in the early days of the stock market crash of 1929, when the former had a market share of 54% to the latter’s 14%. United Fruit’s profit was some $45m and its stock price $108. By 1932, profit was down to $6m and the stock languished at $10.25. “The company was caught in a death spiral,” according to Cohen. By January 1933, Zemurray used his massive stake and proxy votes to take over the company, claiming “I realized that the greatest mistake the United Fruit management had made was to assume it could run its activities in many tropical countries from an office on the 10th floor of a Boston office building.” The immigrant with dirt under his nails and a rumbled jacket knew the business better than the Ivy Leaguers with manicures and pinstriped suits. Indeed, the fish (Cuyamel Fruit) was swallowing the whale (United Fruit). Zemurray would run the company until 1951, arguably the most successful years of its history. In 1950, the company cleared $66m in profit. By 1960, profits would fall to just $2m. United Fruit collapsed, eventually restructuring and reinventing itself as Chiquita Brands, based in Cincinnati. When Zemurray started in the industry at the turn of the century, bananas were curiosities, a sidebar trade, something for the rich. By the time he retired, bananas were part of the daily American fabric, the interests of the industry consistent with that of political leadership in Washington. Indeed, some of the most illustrious and powerful men in government had close connections to United Fruit during the Zemurray era: CIA director Allen Dulles (member of the board of directors), secretary of state John Foster Dulles (U.F. legal counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell), New Deal fixer Tom Corcoran (paid lobbyist), UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge (large shareholder), among others. By the 1950s, Cohen writes, “it was hard to tell where the government ended and the company began.” At its height, Cohen says, United Fruit was “as ubiquitous as Google and as feared as Halliburton.” For anyone interested in business history, American politics in Central America or the development of the global fruit industry, “The Fish that Ate the Whale” is a book to own and savor. Read less
- First, I love learning about different industries and commodities, how they developed over time, often over millennia, shaping world markets and modern political economies (e.g. cotton, gold, salt, cod, petroleum). “The Fish” provides a fascinating introduction to the world of bananas, a fruit that every American today knows and most of whom love on their breakfast cereal or as a mid-day, nutritious snack. Only, as I learned, bananas aren’t actually a fruit and little more than a century ago they were far from common, but rather quite exotic, a true luxury, displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition to crowds of gawking onlookers as if it came from another planet. Indeed, according to the author, a banana in 1900 was as unusual to the average American as an African cucumber is today. There’s a lot about the very familiar banana that I never knew. For instance, Cohen explains that the banana tree is actually the world’s largest herb, and thus its offspring, the banana, are technically berries. Even more fascinating, bananas grow from rhizomes, not seeds. In other words, cut appendages continue to grow, replicating the original. As Cohen describes it: “When you look at a banana, you’re looking at every banana, an infinite regression. There are no mutts, only the first fruit of a particular species and billions of copies. Every banana is a clone, in other words, a replica of an ur-banana that weighed on its stalk the first morning of man.” Believe it or not, the story of the banana gets even crazier. If you’ve ever wondered why old black-and-white films joked about slipping on a banana peel even though the banana peel that you’ve long known doesn’t feel particularly slippery, that’s because we have completely different bananas today. In the early nineteenth century, Americans were introduced to the “Big Mike,” a variety of banana that went extinct in 1965. It was bigger, tastier and more robust than the bananas we have today, according to Cohen, and their peels were far more slippery. The bananas we eat today are known as “Cavendish,” their primary benefit being immunity to the Panama disease that wiped out the Big Mike. Again, because bananas are all exact genetic copies, they are highly susceptible to rapid eradication from disease. Second, I’m a sucker for a great rags-to-riches story. The tale of Samuel Zemurray delivers that in spades. He arrived in America in 1891, a penniless Jew from what today is Moldova, and settled in the Deep South. (It may surprise many Americans but the South was far more hospitable to Jews for most our history. For instance, Jefferson Davis had two Jews in his Cabinet; Lincoln had none.) While still in his teens Zemurray recognized a business opportunity where other only saw trash: the ripe bananas that Boston Fruit discarded along the rail line in Mobile, Alabama before shipping off to Chicago and other northern metropolitan destinations. Zemurray was a natural entrepreneur; he had no particular affinity for bananas, it was just the opportunity at hand. “If he had settled in Chicago,” Cohen writes, “it would have been beef; if Pittsburgh, steel; if L.A., movies.” Zemurray quickly turned one man’s trash into cash, renting a boxcar to carry the castoff bananas along the slow rail route through the South, selling his cargo to local merchants at each Podunk rail stop until either his inventory ran out or spoiled. From such humble beginnings did a great international trading company eventually take root, Cuyamel Fruit, named after the river separating Honduras and Guatemala, the heartland of banana growing. By 1925, Cuyamel Fruit Company, the creation of an upstart Jewish immigrant banana jobber, had emerged as a serious threat to United Fruit, the undisputed king of the industry, a company that was led by Boston’s best, the sons of Brahmins. The threat was not because of Cuyamel’s size. In most ways United Fruit still dominated its aggressive rival (i.e. United Fruit was harvesting 40 million bunches a year with 150,000 employees and working capital of $27m, compared to Cuyamel’s 8 million bunches, 10,000 employees and $3m in working capital). The threat was that Cuyamel was a better run business and more innovative, leading the way with selective pruning, drainage, silting, staking and overhead irrigation. “U.F. was a conglomerate, a collection of firms bought up and slapped together,” Cohen writes. Cuyamel, by contrast, was a well-oiled machine, vertically integrated and led from the front by Zemurray, the ultimate owner-manager-worker. Cuyamel’s success was certainly no accident. It was the product of hard work, an obsessed owner-operator who understood his business at a visceral level, a skill earned over decades of hard, unglamorous work. Zemurray adhered to his own, classically American immigrant code of conduct: “get up first, work harder, get your hands in the dirt and the blood in your eyes.” Cohen describes his commitment and ultimate advantage this way: “Zemurray worked in the fields beside his engineers, planters, and machete men. He was deep in the muck, sweat covered, swinging a blade. He helped map the plantations, plant the rhizomes, clear the weeds, lay the track…unlike most of his competitors, he understood every part of the business, from the executive suite where the stock was manipulated to the ripening room where the green fruit turned yellow…By the time he was forty, he had served in every position from fruit jobber to boss. He worked on the docks, on the ships and railroads, in the fields and warehouses. He had ridden the mules. He had managed the fruit and money, the mercenaries and government men. He understood the meaning of every change in the weather, the significance of every date on the calendar.” Indeed, dedicated immigrants like Sam Zemurray have made America great. There’s nothing wrong with doing grunt work. In fact, it’s essential. United Fruit bought out Cuyamel in the early days of the stock market crash of 1929, when the former had a market share of 54% to the latter’s 14%. United Fruit’s profit was some $45m and its stock price $108. By 1932, profit was down to $6m and the stock languished at $10.25. “The company was caught in a death spiral,” according to Cohen. By January 1933, Zemurray used his massive stake and proxy votes to take over the company, claiming “I realized that the greatest mistake the United Fruit management had made was to assume it could run its activities in many tropical countries from an office on the 10th floor of a Boston office building.” The immigrant with dirt under his nails and a rumbled jacket knew the business better than the Ivy Leaguers with manicures and pinstriped suits. Indeed, the fish (Cuyamel Fruit) was swallowing the whale (United Fruit). Zemurray would run the company until 1951, arguably the most successful years of its history. In 1950, the company cleared $66m in profit. By 1960, profits would fall to just $2m. United Fruit collapsed, eventually restructuring and reinventing itself as Chiquita Brands, based in Cincinnati. When Zemurray started in the industry at the turn of the century, bananas were curiosities, a sidebar trade, something for the rich. By the time he retired, bananas were part of the daily American fabric, the interests of the industry consistent with that of political leadership in Washington. Indeed, some of the most illustrious and powerful men in government had close connections to United Fruit during the Zemurray era: CIA director Allen Dulles (member of the board of directors), secretary of state John Foster Dulles (U.F. legal counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell), New Deal fixer Tom Corcoran (paid lobbyist), UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge (large shareholder), among others. By the 1950s, Cohen writes, “it was hard to tell where the government ended and the company began.” At its height, Cohen says, United Fruit was “as ubiquitous as Google and as feared as Halliburton.” For anyone interested in business history, American politics in Central America or the development of the global fruit industry, “The Fish that Ate the Whale” is a book to own and savor. Read less