Oranges (Paperback)

by John McPhee (Author) "THE custom of drinking orange juice with breakfast is not very widespread, taking the world as a whole, and it is thought by many peoples..." (more)
Key Phrases: citrus men, citrus business, concentrate plant, Indian River, United States, Ben Hill (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
While many readers are familiar with John McPhee's masterful pieces on a large scale (the geological history of North America, or the nature of Alaska), McPhee is equally remarkable when he considers the seemingly inconsequential. Oranges was conceived as a short magazine piece, but thanks to his unparalleled investigative skills, became a slim, fact-filled book. As McPhee chronicles orange farmers struggling with frost and horticulturists' new breeds of citrus, oranges come to seem a microcosm of man's relationship with nature.

Like Flemish miniaturists who reveal the essence of humankind within the confines of a tiny frame, McPhee once again demonstrates that the smallest topic is replete with history, significance, and consequence.

Review
"Fascinating. A sterling example of what a fresh point of view, a clear style, a sense of humor and diligent investigation can do to reveal the inherent interest in something as taken-for-granted as your morning orange juice." --Edmund Fuller, The Wall Street Journal
-- Review

...a delicious book, in a word, and more absorbing than many a novel. -- Harper's

Fascinating. A sterling example of what a fresh point of view, a clear style, a sense of humor, and diligent investigation can do to reveal the inherent interest in something as taken-for-granted as your morning orange juice. -- Wall Street Journal

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Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (January 1, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374512973
• ISBN-13: 978-0374512972
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #93,590 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Succulent botany and history lesson, March 11, 2005

By	E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Oranges" (1967) was Pulitzer-prize-winning author John McPhee's third book and it begins simply 'in medias res' -- as a pungent celebration of oranges and orange juice. This is a mouth-watering introduction to the different types of oranges, and how various humans consume them. Then, in the following chapter the author takes us to the geographical heart of his story in a Florida orange grove.

All is not sweetness and orange juice in this book, which was written when LBJ was President. Frozen orange juice concentrate was make large inroads into the fresh orange market, much to McPhee's dismay. He stopped at a Florida Welcome Station on his way into the state, and was given "a three-ounce cup of reconstituted concentrate." The motel where he stayed also served reconstituted orange juice so McPhee finally had to buy himself a plastic orange reamer and a knife, and pick his own oranges from a nearby grove.

We meet the 'Orange Men' in the following chapter and learn the details of the citrus-growing industry. You might think this is the boring bit, but nothing McPhee writes is ever boring. Pomologists are an eccentric lot, most of them migrants to Florida from cold places like Kansas, Minnesota, and Great Britain. At the time this book was written, Englishman William Grierson, Ph.D, a former officer in the Royal Air Force, was "trying to keep growers and shippers interested in fresh fruit...despite the tidal rise of concentrate." He considered himself "the leader of His Majesty's loyal opposition."

We also learn from Grierson that, "a citrus fruit is, botanically, a berry" and "The sex life of citrus is something fantastic." (Citrus is so genetically perverse that oranges can grow from lime seeds.) By this part of the book you will be up to your ears in sweet and bitter oranges, grapefruits, lemons, tangerines, limequats, citrons, and Persian Limes. If you haven't already run out to the kitchen for a citrus fix, you're made of sterner stuff than I am.

McPhee wanders (as only he can) through the history of citrus, the orangeries of European nobility, the Indian River orange groves, the production of reconstituted orange juice, and throws in a riff on Minute Maid and the old-time orange barons. Go ahead, settle down and drink in this author's delicious prose. His books are much more satisfying than novels.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful novel of the orange through history, January 29, 1998

By	Mary P. Reeve (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

You might think that a whole book on oranges was just too much, but I read this book as eagerly as if it was a mystery and I couldn't wait to see what was on the next page. It is worth reading for the writing alone, as McPhee's style brings the groves to life and makes you laugh aloud at times with subtle humor.

In addition to describing the origin of oranges, their cultivation and rising popularity from when the Hesperides would watch them to the present of the book (1967), he explains how it came to be that most of us have orange juice for breakfast. There is some very interesting science in the book as well, and it seems quite thorough in every respect (after all, it is an entire book on oranges!). There are some excellent character descriptions of the original settlers and orange barons as well: "The Indians hated Russell and always had. One of them fired at him and nicked him the arm. Feeling pain that night, Russell went into the boat's cabin and groped in the dark for a bottle of salve. Picking up a bottle of ink by mistake, he poured it over his arm. When the sun came up, he thought he had gangrene. The others knew that it was ink, but they thought even less of Russell than the Indians did, and they said nothing." It is a must-read for anyone who is traveling to FL and wants to know more about the real FL and less about theme-parks!

The only disappointment might be for those who live in California, as although CA oranges are given a place, the main focus is on FL.

A great read!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good & good for you, December 6, 2002

By	John Anderson (Bar Harbor, ME USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Every time someone asks me about John McPhee (I am, I admit a total fan) I find myself saying "Look, Here is a guy who can take a subject like, say ORANGES, and make it fascinating." This is the book where he does just that. I gather that ORANGES started out as a short magazine piece & like so many of McPhee's books became an obsession. Here we can get the history, the ecology, the landscape of orange groves along with discussions of the effects of oranges and orange growing on both the culture and the surroundings, all in McPhee's eminently readable prose. This is a fast read about a subject that you probably haven't though much about, but you will walk away from this book not only better informed about the fruit but also taken with the infinite possibility of the wonder that can be found in what seem to be every-day things.