Frederick Allen

A "highly entertaining history [of] global hustling, cola wars and the marketing savvy that carved a niche for Coke in the American social psyche” (Publishers Weekly). Secret Formula follows the colorful characters who turned a relic from the patent medicine era into a company worth $80 billion. Award-winning reporter Frederick Allen’s engaging account begins with Asa Candler, a nineteenth-century pharmacist in Atlanta who secured the rights to the original Coca-Cola formula and then struggled to get the cocaine out of the recipe. After many tweaks, he finally succeeded in turning a backroom belly-wash into a thriving enterprise. In 1919, an aggressive banker named Ernest Woodruff leveraged a high-risk buyout of the Candlers and installed his son at the helm of the company. Robert Woodruff spent the next six decades guiding Coca-Cola with a single-minded determination that turned the soft drink into a part of the landscape and social fabric of America. Written with unprecedented access to Coca-Cola’s archives, as well as the inner circle and private papers of Woodruff, Allen’s captivating business biography stands as the definitive account of what it took to build America’s most iconic company and one of the world’s greatest business success stories.

The Inside Story of How Coca-Cola Became the Best-Known Brand in the World

Secret Formula

Andrew Jackson

August 16th marks the anniversary of the death of a cultural icon-Elvis Aaron Presley. Although the face of music has changed in ways that would leave Elvis shaking his head, everything rests upon the bedrock foundation laid by the King. No single person has influenced a musical genre, a restless generation, an entire culture, with the same urgent passion as Elvis. Any diehard music fan can pinpoint the birth of the King's career: an historical day when the sultry-voiced Mississippi native walked into Sun Records for an appointment with destiny. Indeed, this recording session marks the genesis of what we now call Rock-N-Roll. Or does it? WITHOUT THE KING'S CONSENT turns this cozy scenario on its head. On the surface, this is the true story of the real first recording of the King, a story that should have been told a quarter century ago. And just why wasn't it? Therein lies a tale of greed and betrayal and shattered dreams. This is the story of the seamy underside of the recording industry, the story of how one man's solitary endeavor to release a long-forgotten recording crashed upon the shoals of corruption, filthy lucre and good ol' Texas-style justice. For more information, please visit the Author's website: internationalclassicproductions.com

Tell Me Pretty Baby

Without the King's Consent

For visitors and recent arrivals, Atlanta Rising, will serve as the essential primer on the ins and outs of the South's capital city. For natives, the book offers up a rich menu of surprising new facts and fresh insights about their own hometown.

Frederick Allen

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