The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty

This is a story about the Seabrooks and the frozen vegetable empire they created in Southern New Jersey, Seabrook Farms. It chronicles the ingenuity and ambition that built the industrial farm and its brand, as well as the brutality and graft required to keep it going, and the tragic way that the family business ended.“Having left this material for his writer son, my father must have wanted the story told, even if he couldn’t bear to tell it himself.”So begins the story of a forgotten American dynasty, a farming family from the bean fields of southern New Jersey that became wealthy and powerful aristocrats—only to implode in a storm of lies. The patriarch, C. F. Seabrook, was hailed as the “Henry Ford of Agriculture.” His son Jack, a keen businessman, was poised to take over what Life called “the biggest vegetable factory on earth.” But the carefully cultivated facade—glamorous outings by horse-drawn carriage, hidden wine cellars, and movie star girlfriends—hid dark secrets that led to the implosion of the family business. A compulsively readable story of class and privilege, betrayal, and revenge—three decades in the making — The Spinach King explores the author’s complicated family legacy and dark corners of the American Dream.He is the author of the "Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty." https://www.johnseabrook.com/http://www.yourlotandparcel.orgSupport the show