Eli and the Octopus: The CEO Who Tried to Reform One of the World’s Most Notorious Corporations

In this nuanced offering, Dartmouth history professor Garcia (From the Jaws of Victory) chronicles the rise and fall of the doomed “socially conscious” United Fruit CEO, Eli Black (1921–1975). Garcia homes in on Black’s unsuccessful efforts to reform United Fruit, which by the time Black became CEO in 1970 had for decades been “synonymous with US corporate imperialism” and nicknamed “el pulpo—the octopus—for its long, acquisitive reach in seemingly every direction in Latin America.” Black, Garcia contends, made good-faith efforts to rein in United Fruit’s underhanded tactics, allying with United Farm Workers cofounder Cesar Chavez and implementing better conditions for banana workers in Honduras. While his reforms initially appeared successful and he was hailed as the architect of the company’s turnaround, Black jumped out his office window to his death shortly before evidence of payoffs and corruption came to light. Garcia’s portrayal of Black is sympathetic and somewhat rueful, finding pathos in the disconnect between Garcia’s “good intentions” and the inevitability that the “imperatives of turning a profit and serving investors” would outweigh “any virtuous impulse.” The result is a plaintive study of the challenges of trying to change a system from within. Photos. (Apr.)