Mark Pendergrast

Taking on the issue of "repressed memories" in incest cases, the author questions whether therapists are revealing actual happenings or shattering lives with false accusations

For God, Country and Coca-Cola is the definitive history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it. From its origins as a patent medicine in Reconstruction Atlanta through its rise as the dominant consumer beverage of the 21st century, the story of Coke is as unique, tasty, and effervescent as the drink itself. With vivid portraits of the entrepreneurs who founded the c

Uncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks. In this updated edition of the classic work, Mark Pendergrast reviews the dramatic changes in coffee culture over the past decade, from the disastrous “Coffee Crisis” that caused global prices to plummet to the rise of the Fair Trade movement and the “third-wave” of quali

Of all human inventions, the mirror is perhaps the one most closely connected to our own consciousness. As our first technology for contemplation of the self, the mirror is arguably as important an invention as the wheel. Mirror Mirror is the fascinating story of the mirror's invention, refinement, and use in an astonishing range of human activities--from the fantastic mirrored rooms that wealthy

Since its founding in 1951, the Epidemic Intelligence Service has waged war on every imaginable ailment. When an epidemic hits, the EIS will be there to crack the case, however mysterious or deadly, saving countless lives in the process. Over the years they have successfully battled polio, cholera, and smallpox, to name a few, and in recent years have turned to the epidemics killing us nowâ smokin

Jack and the Bean Soup is a fractured fairytale and elaborate fart joke. Jack trades the cow for magic beans that make a potent bean soup. Jack's farts send him skyward, and when the giant eats the soup, the results blast him around the heavens. Jack grabs the goose and lives happily ever after. The book is also a creation myth of sorts, explaining how evil came to the earth (Lucifer was fleeing t

Japan's Tipping Point is a small book on a huge topic. In the post-Fukushima era, Japan is the "canary in the coal mine" for the rest of the world. Can Japan radically shift its energy policy, become greener, more self-sufficient, and avoid catastrophic impacts on the climate? Mark Pendergrast arrived in Japan exactly two months after the Fukushima meltdown. This book is his eye-opening account of

Everyone loved Sadie, not just because she was beautiful, but because she was sweet and kind and loved all living things. There was only one problem. Whenever Sadie was happy -- which was most of the time -- she giggled and smiled and laughed a tinkly little laugh that made her sound sort of silly. When Silly Sadie met the Frog Prince, her life changed in ways she could never have imagined...

“A rich and resonantly detailed account of an unlikely partnership that enabled the hard-working tribespeople of a remote coffee-growing village in Thailand to emerge from poverty and obscurity to success in the refined new world of fine coffee.” —Coffee ReviewA multi-faceted, inspiring narrative of a coffee company whose practices have redefined the concept of fair trade.

"Once there was a fool. He must have had a real name once, but the only name he knew, and the only thing he was called, was Fool...." Thus begins this thought-provoking folktale. The Godfool is not just a children's book. It is a fable, a parable with a moral for all of us. The village Fool, who sleeps in Ma Beezle's pig trough, comes to believe that he is also God. Though he is the butt of jokes

What we can learn from Atlanta's struggle to reinvent itself in the 21st Century Atlanta is on the verge of tremendous rebirth-or inexorable decline. A kind of Petri dish for cities struggling to reinvent themselves, Atlanta has the highest income inequality in the country, gridlocked highways, suburban sprawl, and a history of racial injustice. Yet it is also an energetic, brash young city

In the 1990s, a faddish pseudoscience, repressed memory theory, destroyed millions of American families by creating false memories of childhood sexual abuse. At the time, Mark Pendergrast published his widely acclaimed book Victims of Memory, exposing the false nature of the science and counseling techniques that were alienating teenagers and grown children from their families. In Me

Everyone knows the story of Jerry Sandusky, the serial pedophile, the Monster. But what if that story is wrong? What if the former Penn State football coach and founder of the Second Mile is an innocent man convicted in the midst of a moral panic fed by the sensationalistic media, police trawling, and memory-warping psychotherapy? The Most Hated Man in America reads like a true crime psychological

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the concept of repressed memories. It provides a history and context that documents key events that have had an effect on the way that modern psychology and psychotherapy have developed. Chapters provide an overview of how human memory functions and works and examine facets of the misguided theories behind repressed memory. The book also examines the sc

In a dramatic story featuring the voices of Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, James the younger brother of Jesus, Jeremiah (“Legion”), and of course Jesus, author Mark Pendergrast has brought these characters convincingly to life. Relying primarily on the Gospel of Mark – the earliest of the gospels, which does not contain the virgin birth, but begins with Jesus as an adult – the author has written a n

In Memory Warp, Mark Pendergrast sounds a clarion call to stop the ongoing pseudoscience of “repressed memory therapy,” which has destroyed millions of families and continues to do so. In the 1990s, Pendergrast’s book Victims of Memory helped to debunk the repressed memory craze. Now, more than two decades later, he revisits the subject and proves that this form of “therapy” i