Bryant Simon's new book, Everything but the Coffee, looks at Starbucks’ psychological, emotional, political, and sociological power to discover how the chain’s explosive success and rapid deflation reflect American culture today. Most importantly, it shows that Starbucks speaks to a deeply felt American need for predictability and class standing, community and authenticity, and reveals that Starbucks’ appeal lies not in the product it sells, but in the easily consumed identity it offers.

A two-time winner of the National Magazine Award and a professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Stephen Fried is the author of Thing of Beauty, Bitter Pills, The New Rabbi, and Husbandry. In Appetite for America, he tells the story of entrepreneur Fred Harvey, founder of the renowned “Harvey House” hotels, restaurants, and bookstore chains that served patrons along the Santa Fe railroad well into the 1960’s and became a family empire whose marketing and business innovations are still used in chain stores and restaurants today.