[.ca] Sweet And Low: A Family Story (ISBN 0312426011)

HOW SWEET IS REVENGE?:
They say revenge is sweet. How about revenge is "Sweet and Low," a not very flattering account of family and fortune? Author Rich Cohen evidently had get-even in mind as he makes it plain that he doesn't much care for members of his family and he certainly didn't like being disinherited. Nonetheless, scandal and vitriol often add spice to the listen and this is the case with Cohen's narrative. His grandfather, Ben Eisenstadt, began it all when he opened a diner across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Ever on the lookout for an opportunity, he saw the wisdom of putting sugar into little packets rather than having it sit in clogged glass table dispensers. As the tale goes, he pitched his brainstorm to a sugar company that claimed it as their own. Angry but undaunted Eisenstadt then came up with the idea for Sweet 'N Low, which was offered initially as an aid for diabetics but soon swiped by diet crazed Americans. The family was in high cotton.......until studies linked saccharin to cancer. As they say, there goes the business. Or, as Cohen would say, "Fourteen rats get cancer and nothing will ever be the same." Once corruption was discovered within the company court battles ensued, Cohen's mother's side lost, and their names were whited out in wills. Cohen may be bitter but he's also a dandy writer ("Lake Effect" and "Tough Jews"). His descriptions of family from the kind of woman "who wanted you to think she never went to the bathroom" to Uncle Marvin who said to call him Uncle Marvelous are hilarious. The highs and lows of Sweet 'N Low isn't exactly The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire but it is an interesting and often smile provoking listen. - Gail Cooke