Total Page : 544
Publisher : Bantam
Publication Date : 2010 03 23
>> well studied history of a forgotten but influential businessman
Before I opened this book I had never heard of Fred Harvey Having read it I can t understand why not Fred Harvey as the book explains was a hugely influential businessman who built a chain of hotels restaurants and bookstores that dominated the railroad hospitality business of his day Fred Harvey as his business was called even long after the man himself passed from the scene brought affordable and high quality dining to the masses who traveled the railroads He also fed the ordinary folks who lived in railroad towns throughout the west The company helped created a boom in interest in Native American culture and jobs for hundreds of women who worked in Fred Harvey restaurants
The attention to detail in this book is excellent Stephen Fried has mined company documents personal letters newspaper archives and other sources to present us with a realistic and comprehensive look at how the Fred Harvey empire rose to prominence and how it eventually faded away with the end of the passenger railroad era The level of detail is never oppressive or pedantic and the book is nearly always a good read
Fred Harvey himself was a remarkable man an Englishman who overcame the deaths of his wife and children a thieving partner neurasthenia floods outlaws and fires to build his amazing business with its high standards of uniform service The Fred Harvey empire became a harbinger of later businesses including various hotel chains eateries and mass market booksellers that have revolutionized American life We also get an entertaining picture of life in the Old West that strange mixture of civilization and barbarism that attracted so many prominent talents and built so many great fortunes Best of all is the description of the remarkable places where Fred Harvey built his hotels including the Grand Canyon
The book is divided into two main sections the first covering Fred Harvey s construction of his business during the Old West days until his death in the early 1900s and the second how the business was run by his descendants until it withered away in the late 1940s The latter part of the history seemed a little rushed at times and devolved into a kind of family gossip history but that s okay because it just emphasized how difficult it was to keep Fred Harvey s vision going in changing times and under divided leadership
I recommend this book for people who like tales of the Old West the rise of American culture and business and stories about visionary leadership
>> Interesting but Minor
I did enjoy reading this book but I can truly say that I didn t find it memorable Harvey s accomplishments are well he invented a form of tourism or at least a way of marketing tourism In a way he s responsible for some of the vapid tourist traps that blight the American landscape
The book is not poorly written nor dull nor incomprehensible I just found the subject matter somewhat uncompelling
>> Fred Harvey The Forrest Gump Of The West
Stephen Fried s Fred Harvey biography Appetite For America reads like a 100 year history lesson of the 1860 s through the 1960 s Not only does it describe in at times excruciating detail the life and times of the man Fred Harvey but it also describes again in often excruciating detail the hospitality company of the same name and how they both rode tumultuous times while thriving financially and publically often time in less than hospitable country to bring the towns served by Santa Fe rails the particular Fred Harvey brand of Americana
Either by chance or due to human/corporate scope it appeared that the man and/or the food service company was constantly intertwined in the major events and the event makers of the day from the Oklahoma land rush the financial panics of 1895 1907 and etc to the equal rights questions Fred Harvey was one of the first major employers of African Americans and women bringing out scores of single and thus available women Out West not to mention the ebb and flow of the railroad industry and culinary to such historical giants as the men of the Manhattan Project Gen George Custer Jay Gould Teddy Roosevelt and scores of others Thus you are constantly surrounded by the major events of American history as you read through this encyclopedic book
Everything about Fred Harvey is here Not only do we have a thorough history but the three appendices include notes from the author s recent 3 wk Amtrak trip from Chicago to LA along much of the original AT SF lines an extensive recipe book with many of the more notable fare that was served at Harvey houses throughout the years and a complete list of all the restaurants stations and other facilities that were at one time or another owned or run by the Fred Harvey organization Mr Fried also includes a detailed chapter by chapter notes section and extremely useful bibliography
My only negative comment is that the author gets somewhat verbose in his description of every esoteric happening One example Fred Harvey was often stricken with one ailment or another This obviously bears at least passing reference from time to time throughout the book to underline his overall health However the author has paragraph after painful paragraph detailing ailments time lost remedies etc throughout Mr Harvey s lifetime over and over ad nauseum The first time is great as an important backstory The second time he devotes half a page to the current sickness is ok However the 15th time it s mentioned and again we read about his ailments in exacting detail seems a little much And this is basically the theme for every subject throughout the book Even peripheral events that have only minimal importance to the central characters/stories are often given half to full page or more expositions Although Harvey philes will love all the little esoteric references and factoids unless you are a fanatic devotee or interested in reviewing a doctoral thesis after awhile it gets to be a little much It appeared to me that the author had gathered so much really great research material and was so invested in the information and his topic that he was unwilling to cut anything out to help the readability of the book 400 pages is long and when you re read the same themes over and over again it seems even longer
HOWEVER you can t really fault someone for loving the subject that he s obviously devoted many years to and wanting to include everything he can It s just a lot As evidenced by my review it s tough for me to be brief either so what do I know Minor comment but it keeps me from giving it 5 stars
