The James Beard Awardwinning food writer serves up "a quirky and rewarding exploration of a 'very real time, place, product, and person'" (TriQuarterly).
Acclaimed cultural historian Josh Ozersky defines the American Dream as being able to transcend your roots and create yourself as you see fit. Harland Sanders did exactly that. At the age of sixty-fiveafter failed jobs and misfortunehe packed his car with a pressure cooker and his secret blend of eleven herbs and spices and began peddling the recipe for "Colonel Sanders' Kentucky Fried Chicken" to small-town diners. Ozersky traces the rise of Kentucky Fried Chicken from this unlikely beginning, telling the dramatic story of Sanders' self-transformation into "The Colonel," his truculent relationship with KFC management as their often-disregarded goodwill ambassador, and his equally turbulent afterlife as the world's most recognizable commercial icon.
"Nobody finishing this book will look at their local KFC in the same way again." The National