Fast Food Nation is a fascinating foray into the world of the fast food industry. It expertly shows the influence of the fast food industry on society and how it has transformed our nation over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries. Eric Schlosser uses factual accounts from real people in the fast food industry, people from established universities, and even teenagers who once had a part time job working in a fast food restaurant to show the reader how the fast food industry does what it does and why it does it. I like how he blends factual evidence and story together seamlessly managing to put an emotional appeal along with a logical one. In one chapter Schlosser analyzes the impact of fast food in a small town like Anaheim, California and Colorado Springs, Colorado and in another he details the life of a teenage fast food worker. He goes through great lengths to inform the reader every single detail of the fast food industry from employee's perspective too a biography of the founders of some major fast food corporations.

One complaint I do have, however, is that although he did include opinions from opposing sources, he did seem to show some bias against the fast food industry. This is especially exemplified when he explains the effect that fast food had on small towns. 'Once you hit Academy Boulevard, you are surrounded by the hard, tangible evidence of what has happened in Colorado during the last twenty years.' (Schlosser 60) This is obviously exemplifying his negative views of the fast food industry and the impact it has had on small town America.

However, this small complaint does not take away the sheer fascination and utter enjoyment felt by the reader after reading Fast Food Nation. I actually learned things about the fast food industry that I would have never known otherwise. It actually makes me feel smarter having known these things, and will change my perception of fast food. Every time I enter a fast food restaurant I will think about this novel. It gives you a wake up call on how much influence fast food has on our society and how much it has changed the landscape of America. We have become a nation of fast food eaters because of its convenience and its inexpensive cost, yet we don't think of the negatives these fast food conglomerates bring. They discourage small town business owners and encourage conformity to make a profit. When we are driving down the highway we are smothered by advertisements of Big Macs and Chicken Chalupa's and there is no escaping it. All of this information I came to realize while reading this novel, and it is information I will not soon forget.