Cerealizing America: The Unsweetened Story of American Breakfast Cereal

The crack of dawn, the sky outside your window is still dark. You drag yourself out of bed and into the kitchen, then reach into the cabinet and pull out a box of your favorite cereal. A smiling tiger or bear or toucan looks back at you. Yet how did this cereal come to be in your cabinet? How did the character on the box come into existence? Those questions and more are answered in this book, from the very beginnings of the cereal industry to the present time (for the most part, as this was published in 1995). So while somewhat dated, this excellent history book about breakfast cereal will provide you many interesting facts about its place in our lives, from the creators, the mascots, and especially the cereal itself. You won't be disappointed.

Scott Bruce and Bill Crawford have made an outstanding achievement in this historical, yet humorous account of the cereal industry. Find out how Cap'n Crunch came into being, as well as Coo-Coo Bird and Tony the Tiger. Learn about the different impacts that J.H. Kellogg, W.K. Kellogg and C.W. Post had on forming the cereal industry. Find which competitors cereals came into being and are still around, as well as those that were successful, but are no longer here. This book is a complete story of an industry that has impacted all of our lives as Americans as a part of pop culture. Who hasn't walked down a cereal isle in a grocery store and been effected one way of the other by the masterful marketing presented there? I actually bought this book at Cereal City in Battle Creek, Michigan, the home of the cereal industry. I immediately began reading it and could not put it down! I never thought I would find a book about breakfast cereal to be so fascinating. These two authors deserve a great deal of credit for compiling and writing a fantastic book. I highly recommend every American read this one, as it will pull at your heart strings and make your charge off to the grocery store with your spoon!

Being familiar with the industry and its products through substantial research and review, I am confident in stating that much of what is written here is "revisionist history" and an effort to exploit Americans' understandably warm feelings toward comfortable things of their youth into an effort to glorify (if not deify) an industry that, at least indirectly, sucks government subsidies to add excessive sugar, salt, and fat to our diet than we really need. Good grief! Some of the origins of the firms are accurately reported, but short of that, this is "Madison Avenue on steroids."

interesting reading about something most of us eat. It is interesting to see how the companies started, the marketing and remember brands we used to eat that are now part of history.

The history of the American breakfast cereal and how it evolved from a health food to junk food. Originally promoted by religious organizations it is now huckstered by the ad industry. This is also a history of popular culture and the role cereal played in promoting give away gimmics, comic characters, radio programs, and TV cartoons. It has all the elements of both tragedy and comedy. Highly recommended. Educational and entertaining. A great read.

A cereal history with information on the characters (both real and animated) that have popularized cereal in the United States. This book has an incredible amount of insight on character marketing and advertising, especially what happens behind the scenes in production, sales, and development. Very interesting reading for cereal enthusiasts!

A good book to read about cereals.