The Spinach King

The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty

17 July 2026

Territory Rights — Worldwide.

Description

The riveting saga of the Seabrook Family, by one of The New Yorker’s most acclaimed storytellers

“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 that became as wealthy, glamorous and powerful as Gilded Age aristocrats. But the carefully cultivated façade hid dark secrets that led to the implosion of the family business. In a compulsively readable story of class and privilege, betrayal and revenge, John Seabrook explores his complicated family legacy and dark corners of the American Dream.

Reviews

"John Seabrook wryly details the rise and fall—and Oedipal struggles—of his family’s farming empire… This is a tremendous tale" — John Gapper, Financial Times

"This tale of the quarrelsome family, the devious father, the advances in food production and the ultimate disintegration of a business that had lasted for a century is told with the clarity and verve one would expect of a professional journalist." — Frances Cairncross, Literary Review

"Keen, sophisticated and appealing... It’s a shocking but juicy story, one he tells by harnessing his gift for quietly observing details that lesser writers would miss and then deploying them with the energy of a man who has skin in the game... Captivating reading." — The New York Times Book Review

"A The New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice"

Also By: John Seabrook

The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory
John Seabrook
Paperback, 2016
"An utterly satisfying examination of the business of popular music." —Nathaniel Rich, The Atlantic
The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory
John Seabrook
Hardback, 2015
There's a reason hit songs offer guilty pleasure—they're designed that way.
The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory
John Seabrook
E Book, 2015
"An utterly satisfying examination of the business of popular music." —Nathaniel Rich, The Atlantic