In Chocolate We Trust: The Hershey Company Town Unwrapped (Contemporary Ethnography)

I live an hour from Hershey, Pa., and have taken in sporting events, concerts and the amusement park at Hershey for decades. Peter Kurie does a deep dive into the trust that controls all things Hershey with this book. The book is worth reading for anyone with an interest in Hershey, and the revelations contained within will be at least somewhat disappointing to anyone inspired by the larger mission of Hershey's.There are still lots of children who are helped by the trust left behind by Milton Hershey, but in recent times, the trust and the board overseeing it has become a way to seriously enrich board members. Serving on the board of the trust can now be worth as much as half a million dollars a year for members. Examples of self-dealing by board members have also grown common in recent years.I think readers will probably have to have at least some interest in Hershey's or the local area to enjoy the book. At places, the book gets deep in the weeds of local religious history. That said, it will still be an eye-opening read for anyone local to the area.

Hershey, Pa is the town where Milton Hershey set up his factory to make affordable chocolate bars for the masses. In the time he set up the company, chocolate was mostly an upper crust item that the average person could ill afford to buy, let alone try.He also created a town, named after himself in which to employ workers and to some degree, take care of them.Finally, after his death, he created a fund to create the Milton Hershey School for Orphans. The trust is probably the most contentious thing going on in this day and age. Originally controlled by people Hershey respected, it has come under fire in recent years for a number of things. One was a takeover bid and the thought of selling the chocolate company to "outsiders" who may have torn down the factory and changed the entire landscape of the town.Others are grieved by the trustees of the school, who have been accused of insider dealing and of looking out for their pocketbooks before those of the children they tend to.Overall, a fascinating look into the dynamics that took place in Hershey and are still occurring today.

"Can business take care of people? Can it build and sustain communities? Can it save lives?" The ramifications of these questions, asked by Kurie in the introduction, take the importance of this book well beyond the boundaries of the town itself. You need not have grown up in ol' Chocolatetown, nor even have visited, to learn valuable lessons from this example (and from Kurie's great work in investigating it). Though, as someone who did in fact grow up there, I enjoyed one interviewee's assessment of Hershey as being "a very expensive fantasy," and I applaud Kurie's inclusion of the union history (e.g. the '37 workers' strike) and current struggles in international labor rights in the town's often sugar-coated story.

Well done, Mr. Kurie! It was fascinating to learn so much about the history of the town named for the man behind the Hershey bar, the Milton Hershey School Trust and its multi-billion dollar endowment, and the ongoing controversies regarding the management of this charitable trust. The author tells of the uniqueness of Hershey, Pennsylvania from its inception to today, and one gets the sense that change is not welcomed by many of its residents. IN CHOCOLATE WE TRUST gives the reader much food for thought.

An excellent book for anyone looking to learn more about the Milton Hershey legacy and it’s implications on the town, the company, the trust, and the school. Kurie gives a well rounded analysis of the history and current factors that influence the trust and its beneficiaries both direct and indirect. A great read!

Great read! As someone from Hershey, I found the depiction of the town to be spot on! Kurie does a great job describing and dissecting the relationship between old "Hersheyites" who grew up in the 1950s and 60s and the "Newbies" in town as well as the complex and often contentious relationship between the townspeople and the trust. Highly recommend for anyone interested in learning more about this historic place!

Ouvrage très intéressant, riche en informations, lecture vivante. Je suis ravi de l'avoir acquis et lu, il va m'être d'une grande utilité.