Nothing is more quintessentially American than Coca-Cola.

Consequently, the 100-plus year history of this phenomenal company mirrors the business, social and even political history of this country.That is what journalist Frederick Allen found after diving headfirst into the vast files and talking to key people at the Atlanta-based company, which now boasts $50 billion in sales in 195 countries.

The results of his intense study can be found in a fascinating book titled "Secret Formula: How Brilliant Marketing and Relentless Salesmanship Made Coca-Cola the Best-Known Product in the World."

Allen, formerly a national political commentator for CNN and reporter and columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is a terrific writer. Rather than presenting Coca-Cola in a dry, business manner with charts and graphs, Allen delves into the personalities and movements of the company in an excellent story-telling style.

His story begins shortly after the Civil War with a Confederate veteran and war hero named John Stith "Doc" Pemberton, a pharmacist who experimented with patent medicines.

"In the spring of 1886, stirring up the contents of a forty-gallon brass kettle with a wooden oar, he brewed the first batch of a dark, sugary syrup meant to be served with carbonated water and sold at the city's soda fountains," Allen writes. "The most successful soft drink of all time was born."

But not just a soft drink was created that day. Also born was a company that has lived on the cutting edge of marketing and international business since its humble beginnings.

"In billboards and magazine ads, posters and jingles, Coca-Cola helped pioneer the art of the soft sell, turning the `pause that refreshes' into an integral part of the national culture," Allen wrote.

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Coca-Cola used customer data bases and distributed tons of name-embossed merchandise before the turn of the century.

After capturing the American public's attention, Coca-Cola became a national icon with the American public as its spokespeople to gain a toehold abroad. When the French government banned the product in a fit of nationalism after WWII, Americans rallied behind their soft drink and instantly began a self-imposed ban on French products, particularly wine. The French backed down immediately.

More close to home, Coca-Cola was quite a political force in Atlanta, especially during the turbulent 1960s. Mostly through the decision of Robert Woodruff, who ran the company from the 1920s to the 1980s, Coca-Cola gave financial support and other influence to change the old-order political segregationists, replacing them with more enlightened politicians in an effort to end the racism of Georgia.

Allen does an excellent job of providing the whole picture of the Real Thing and giving good insight into the way American business, for better and worse, really works.

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