Pulitzer Prize in History for “Franchise”

Now, you may have known this already, but I only recently became aware that this year’s Pulitzer Prize in History has gone to a work of business history:

Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, by Marcia Chatelain (Liveright/Norton)

As the award notice says, this is a nuanced account of the complicated role the fast-food industry plays in African-American communities, a portrait of race and capitalism that masterfully illustrates how the fight for civil rights has been intertwined with the fate of Black businesses.

Previously the book won the New York Times “Times Critics Top Books of 2020“:

From civil rights to Ferguson, Franchise reveals the untold history of how fast food became one of the greatest generators of black wealth in America.

https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/marcia-chatelain

Now there’s some summer reading for you.