News

Destiny of the Dispossessed Spinach Prince. John Seabrook’s history of Seabrook Farms, where many incarcerated Japanese Americans worked during WWII, is ultimately about fathers and sons.

The Spinach King — the tale of an agricultural dynasty and its dark secrets. John Seabrook wryly details the rise and fall — and Oedipal struggles — of his family’s farming empire. Read the full article here. 

Seabrook Farms once provided a third of the nation’s frozen vegetables. But with its success came scandal. John Seabrook confronts his family’s complex legacy in his new book, The Spinach King.

JOHN SEABROOK (Veteran NEW YORKER staff writer, and author of THE SPINACH KING: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN AMERICAN DYNASTY) explains his decision to choose truth over alternative facts and burn his family legacy to the ground. From House of SpeakEasy’s ​“Seriously Entertaining,” June 2025. 

Inside the ruthless world of NJ’s frozen veggie kings.

Bestsellers this week at Sonoma’s local bookstore, Readers’ Books.

This recording is presented by Princeton Public Library. The author, a staff writer at The New Yorker for more than three decades, discusses his recently released book ​“The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty.” 

New books by Carl Hiaasen and John Seabrook tell distinctly American stories. Carl Hiaasen and John Seabrook are out with new books that draw from their personal experiences in order to tell distinctly American stories. First, many of the scenarios in the novel Fever Beach were inspired by Hiaasen’s experience living in South Florida. The book satirizes the white nationalist movement, following a ragtag militia that forms when its leader is kicked out of the Proud Boys. In today’s episode, Hiaasen speaks with Here & Now’s Robin Young about striking a balance between satire and reality. Then, New Jersey’s Seabrook Farms was once called the biggest vegetable factory on earth. But the family that ran it – according to John Seabrook – was backstabbing, alcoholic, and ruthless. In The Spinach King, Seabrook tells the true story behind his family’s empire. In today’s episode, he joins NPR’s Ari Shapiro for a conversation about the man behind Seabrook Farms, the violence that underlies large fortunes, and family betrayal. 

How C. F. Seabrook became the Lear of the vegetable fields.

‘The Spinach King’ is a tale of American success — and family betrayal. NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks with John Seabrook about his book The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty, which tells the story of his family’s frozen vegetable empire. 

John Seabrook on the Destructive Family Battles of ​“The Spinach King.” The writer’s grandfather founded an agricultural empire, but destroyed his business and his family rather than cede control to his sons. ​“It’s ​‘Succession,’ with spinach,” Seabrook says.

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

BETRAYAL, REVENGE AND FAMILY SECRETS: A FROZEN FOOD ​“SUCCESSION.” This week, we share a story of revenge, betrayal and secrets … at a frozen vegetable empire. John Seabrook investigates why running ​“the biggest vegetable factory on Earth” led to generations of drama in his family, like a real-life version of the TV show ​“Succession.” 

‘The Spinach King’ tosses together a tale of greed and greens. 

‘The Spinach King’ Review: It Runs in the Family. C.F. Seabrook pioneered new agricultural processes and built his father’s farms into a major corporation along the way. He had a harder time sharing the reins with his son.

A Memoir of Family Dysfunction Awash in Liquor and Leafy Greens: In ​“The Spinach King,” John Seabrook recounts how his grandfather turned a family farm into an industrial behemoth, and exposes the greed and malfeasance behind the prosperous façade. 

This week, don’t miss a collection spotlighting Vietnamese voices, the story of a troubled American dynasty, and a Pulitzer Prize – winning funny guy’s new memoir… 

John Seabrook, author of The Spinach King, and Larry Ericksen, director of the Seabrook Educational and Cultural Center, join us to chat about local history, and the enduring legacy of the Seabrook family in South Jersey. 

The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by John Seabrook | W. W. Norton & Company. ​“Still have a Succession-shaped hole in your life? Then read this gripping real-life story of how a New Jersey family farming empire was torn apart by intergenerational conflict. A deeply personal look at his grandfather’s business, this is an epic American tale of capitalism, class tensions and racial exploitation in the 20th century.”