Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks

Bryant Simon

Published by University of California Press 2009

Everything but the Coffee

Learning about America from Starbucks

Bryant Simon

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520945173

Overview
Contents

About this book

Everything but the Coffee casts a fresh eye on the world's most famous coffee company, looking beyond baristas, movie cameos, and Paul McCartney CDs to understand what Starbucks can tell us about America. Bryant Simon visited hundreds of Starbucks around the world to ask, Why did Starbucks take hold so quickly with consumers? What did it seem to provide over and above a decent cup of coffee? Why at the moment of Starbucks' profit-generating peak did the company lose its way, leaving observers baffled about how it might regain its customers and its cultural significance? Everything but the Coffee probes the company's psychological, emotional, political, and sociological power to discover how Starbucks' explosive success and rapid deflation exemplify American culture at this historical moment. Most importantly, it shows that Starbucks speaks to a deeply felt American need for predictability and class standing, community and authenticity, revealing that Starbucks' appeal lies not in the product it sells but in the easily consumed identity it offers.

Author / Editor information

Simon Bryant :

Bryant Simon is Professor of History and the Director of American Studies at Temple University and the author, most recently, of Boardwalk Dreams: Atlantic City and the Fate of Urban America.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introducing the Starbucks Moment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. Real Coffee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
II. Predictability the Individual Way Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
III. It Looks like a Third Place Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
IV. Self-Gifting and Retail Therapy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
V. Hear Music for Everyday Explorers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
VI. Not-So-Green Cups Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
VII. Sleeping Soundly in the Age of Globalization Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Afterword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
A Note on the Research Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 320

eBook

Published: October 20, 2009
ISBN: 9780520945173