Fizz: How Soda Shook Up the World

Tristan Donovan

Nov 2013 · Chicago Review Press

About this ebook

The story of soda is the story of the modern world, a tale of glamorous bubbles, sparkling dreams, big bucks, miracle cures, and spreading waistlines. Fizz: How Soda Shook Up the World charts soda's remarkable, world-changing journey from awe-inspiring natural mystery to ubiquitous presence in all our lives.

Along the way you'll meet the patent medicine peddlers who spawned some of the world's biggest brands with their all-healing concoctions, as well as the grandees of science and medicine mesmerized by the magic of bubbling water. You'll discover how fizzy pop cashed in on Prohibition, helped presidents reach the White House, and became public health enemy number one. You'll learn how Pepsi put the fizz in Apple's marketing, how Coca-Cola joined the space race, and how soda's sticky sweet allure defined and built nations. And you'll find out how an alleged soda-loving snail rewrote the law books.

Fizz tells the extraordinary tale of how a seemingly simple everyday refreshment zinged and pinged over our taste buds and, in doing so, changed the world around us.

Ratings and reviews

This is a very informational book on the history of soda. But, for all the useful information, the book is also very fun and interestingly to read, and isn't bland at all. Once you get past the numerous grammar mistakes, you will find that this book will help you discover things you never knew before. The author has a very unique way of putting their own thoughts into the book, along with the facts. Overall, whether you need to write a college essay, or just snuggle up with this book and a cup of unspecified hot or cold drink, this book will provide you with what you wanted to know about the vivid, colorful history of soda.

About the author

Tristan Donovan is the author of Replay: The History of Video Games. His work has appeared in publications such as the Times, Stuff, the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, and the Big Issue.