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Fed Up: The High Costs of Cheap Food by Dale Finley Slongwhite (2014-05-06) Hardcover – January 1, 1800

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 32 ratings

The pesticide stories Big Ag doesn’t want you to hear“Slongwhite’s modern tragedy reflects the increasing power of the Big Food corporations’ influence in D.C.—and why something this unimaginable, passing from one generation to the next, can take place. Testimony like this belongs in the Federal Register.”—Theo Colborn, president, TEDX (The Endocrine Disruption Exchange)“Poignant, gut-wrenching, and real, this book should be required reading for everyone who eats.”—Barry Estabrook, author of How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit“Presents compelling and heart-wrenching stories about profound social and environmental injustices. Yet these are also stories about strength, survival, and the victory of the human spirit.”—Joan Flocks, director, Social Policy Division at the Center for Governmental Responsibility, Levin College of Law, University of Florida One farmworker tells of the soil that would “bite” him, but that was the chemicals burning his skin. Other laborers developed lupus, asthma, diabetes, kidney failure, or suffered myriad symptoms with no clear diagnosis. Some miscarried or had children with genetic defects while others developed cancer.In Fed Up, Dale Slongwhite collects the nearly inconceivable and chilling oral histories of African American farmworkers whose lives, and those of their families, were forever altered by one of the most horrific pesticide exposure incidents in United States’ history.For decades, the farms around Lake Apopka, Florida’s third largest lake, were sprayed with chemicals ranging from the now-banned DDT to toxaphene. Among the most productive farmlands in America, the fields were doused with organochlorine pesticides, also known as persistent organic pollutants; the once-clear waters of the lake turned pea green; birds, alligators, and fish died at alarming rates; and still the farmworkers planted, harvested, packed, and shipped produce all over the country, enduring scorching sun, snakes, rats, injuries, substandard housing, low wages, and the endocrine disruptors dropped by crop dusters.Eventually, state and federal dollars were allocated to buy out and close farms to attempt land restoration, water clean up, and wildlife rehabilitation. But the farmworkers became statistics, nameless casualties history almost forgot. Here are their stories, told in their own words.
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01FGJ0RB6
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University Press of Florida; edition (2014-05-06) (January 1, 1800)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 32 ratings

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Dale Finley Slongwhite
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4.6 out of 5 stars
32 global ratings

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Customers find the book insightful and well-written. They appreciate the photographs.

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3 customers mention "Eye opening"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book eye-opening and inspiring. They say it's well-researched.

"...I found the book to be thoroughly researched, eye opening and inspiring. Each person's story moved me and angered me at the same time...." Read more

"...This book will open your eyes and shock you. I cannot eat a salad, a carrot stick, frozen veggies, etc. etc...." Read more

"...This book is an eye-opener and shows the human cost of mass agriculture." Read more

3 customers mention "Writing quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the writing quality of the book. They find it well-written and appreciate the wonderful photographs.

"...The book is very well written and the photographs are wonderful...." Read more

"This book is a highly readable and moving wake up call to human and environmental costs of our food that are not included in market prices...." Read more

"I love the honesty of these stories. Well written. I have recommended this book to several of my friends!" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2021
    Florida’s Lake Apopka was once an angler’s paradise, but the need to feed people during WWII led to the draining of part of the lake to expose the rich “muck” to harvest numerous crops. The stories of the people who harvested these crops is told in this book. Their stories of the conditions in the fields like being crop-dusted and not being able to take shelter will make you thankful for the people who put food on your table. Hopefully, today’s migrant workers have better conditions in the fields and do not put their life on the line to undertake those work.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2014
    This is an amazing book. For me worrying about the calories in food, cost of food and visiting Disney the home of ' making dreams come true', I had my eyes opened to the actual human cost of producing food in Disney's back yard. This book details the tragic lives of generations of the people of Lake Apopka, working in terrible conditions, and eventually suffering the consequences of the pesticides exposure. Not simply uncovering the statistics of these people, Slongwhite's interviews of these beautiful and noble people is heartwrenching. The book is very well written and the photographs are wonderful. With graduations coming I am planning to buy ."Fed Up" as graduation gifts for my high school and college graduates. I know they will be as touched and inspired as I am.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2021
    I love this not bc its my grandmother on the cover but bc the writer captured the character of my grandmother, when I read her chapter it was like my grandmother talkn I could hear her voice..GREAT JOB!
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2014
    When I got this book I was expecting to learn more about all the stuff that is in our food and how it affects us.
    Instead I got a heartbreaking story of the people who were hurt and abused in the process of making our food.
    Since a lot of the people interviewed in the book had similar experiences, it can get repetitive some times. Each chapter is written in the perspective of one of the people interviewed.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2014
    I've been concerned about how pesticides affect the consumers of food for years, but in reading Dale Slongwhite's book, I realized that just as important is the effect on the people who harvest our food. I found the book to be thoroughly researched, eye opening and inspiring. Each person's story moved me and angered me at the same time. How can we have let this happen in the first place and then continue. Any teenager or adult that eats should read this book.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2014
    This book is a highly readable and moving wake up call to human and environmental costs of our food that are not included in market prices. These are the costs paid by the farmworkers themselves, the injustice and heartlessness of the health costs and abuses they suffer. The stories of individual flesh and blood human beings interviewed personally by Dale Slongwhite are proof of the pudding. Hopefully they will inspire corrective action on many levels, in the name of justice and environmental preservation.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2014
    Must of us have NO CLUE as to what happens to make it possible for us to eat produce! This book will open your eyes and shock you. I cannot eat a salad, a carrot stick, frozen veggies, etc. etc. without thinking about the poor souls of Lake Apopka that risked their lives for their 'job'. Author Dale Finley Slongwhite has presented this travesty in a way that makes it all too real.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2017
    There is a saying, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch". The low prices we pay for our food imply a cost that is taken from somewhere else. This book is an eye-opener and shows the human cost of mass agriculture.
    2 people found this helpful
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