Reviews for The Hamburger: A History

The average rating for The Hamburger: A History based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-08-29 00:00:00 Wally Majors Although I am Vegetarian, even I recognize hamburgers as being a quintessential symbol of All-American food. From fast food to barbecues, gastro pubs to school lunches, casual to celebratory… They are virtually everywhere. How did this basic sandwich come to be? What does it symbolize? Josh Ozersky looks at the social and pop history of a burger in, "The Hamburger". To be clear, Ozersky aimed to cover the social history of burgers but that isn't quite how "The Hamburger" turned out. Ozersky's "The Hamburger" begins par on this course attempting to decipher the precise origin of the hamburger. However, this quickly leads into a discussion of fast food and "The Hamburger" basically becomes a quick history of McDonald's. The majority of the text describes the evolution and takeover of McDonald's and eschews any real mention of the actual burgers. Ozersky is also guilty of lacking in any concise or compelling information. "The Hamburger" is all over the place and is missing a direct thesis. Arguments and informative areas are weak and the book reads like a college paper - a freshman college paper (I truly recall this style of writing even though it was more than a decade ago for me). Even older college students would pen a better work. Similarly, Ozersky's "The Hamburger" is not memorable and lacks any riveting presentation. Much of the text is repetitive and nothing truly sticks out (if a reader is asked to recall anything learned after closing the book, I will guarantee they won't recall anything substantial). "The Hamburger" is easily digested (no pun intended) and moves swiftly but Ozersky tries way too hard to pep up his prose with metaphors, similes, and literary language. It is just a bit over the top in context with the subject matter and again reflects the college paper-level status. "The Hamburger" is comparable to a blog article but one that doesn't stand out. The conclusion of "The Hamburger" is weak and abrupt lacking a true tie-in and therefore adds to the overall disappointment of "The Hamburger". Ozersky does include a notes section (combined with sources) although this is not heartily annotated. "The Hamburger" is a super fast (1-2 day) read but honestly: it is a waste of time even at that rate. The reader doesn't truly come away with anything and Ozersky's aim is lost. There isn't much to be said about the text but that it can be skipped.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-03-26 00:00:00 Kimberley Martin I thought this was a relatively light/food history book. It focused on the differences between a sandwich with ground meat and an actual 'Hamburger.' I was disappointed in its overall history of the hamburger. I was expecting more "meat" in the conversation. Ozersky spends a lot of time discussing McDonald's (makes sense) but not enough on other burger chains. In addition, this book was recently published and yet devotes about 5 pages to the newer hamburger story. There was no mention of the hamburger cooking contests or newer re-invention or flavoring of hamburgers.