By turns ecstatic, comic, and bittersweet, Candyfreak is the story of how Steve Almond grew up on candy- and how, for better and worse, candy has grown up, too. Part candy porn, part candy polemic, part social history, part confession, Candyfreak explores the role candy plays in our lives as both source of pleasure and escape from pain. Today's precious few regional candy makers mount daily battles against corporate greed, paranoia, and that good old American compulsion: crushing the little guy. Visiting the candy factories that produce the Twin Bing, the Idaho Spud, the Goo Goo Cluster, the Valomilk, and a dozen other quirky bars, Almond finds that the world of candy is no longer a sweet haven. There, he found an industry ruled by huge conglomerates, where the little guys, the last remaining link to the glorious boom years of the candy bar in America, struggle to survive. Steve Almond opens his new book Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America with a section called 'Some Things You Should Know About the Author.' Item 1: The author has eaten a piece of candy every single day of his entire life. In fact, he was so obsessed by the inexplicable disappearance of these bars- where'd they go?- that he embarked on a nationwide journey to uncover the truth about the candy business. In Candyfreak, Almond parlays his own obsession with chocolate into a quest to seek out the sources and practices of today's chocolate confection, as well as to learn about the forces that have overwhelmed the artistry and pluck of individual chocalatiers into the mechanized behemoth of American mass culture. The Marathon, an inimitable rope of caramel covered in chocolate. A self-professed candyfreak, Steve Almond set out in search of a much-loved candy from his childhood and found himself on a tour of the small candy companies that are persevering in a marketplace where big corporations dominate. Perhaps you remember the whipped splendor of the Choco-Lite, or the luscious Caravelle bar, or maybe the sublime and perfectly balanced Hershey's Cookies 'n Mint. The Marathon, an inimitable rope of caramel covered in chocolate.

Candyfreak by steve almond