Annotated and critical edition of the letters of one of early Methodism's most influential founders.

Ever since John Wesley departed from Anglican usage by "consecrating" him as Superintendent of American Methodism, Thomas Coke has been a center of controversy. Though remembered primarily as the "Father of Methodist missions," he was a key figure in the development of Methodism on both sides of the Atlantic in the years before and after Wesley's death. To write his biography is to write much of the history of the Church he served. This makes it all the more surprising that no serious study of Thomas Coke has appeared in England for over a century, and that the only substantial twentieth-century biography is that of Bishop Candler published in America more than forty years ago. In the words of Cyril Davey on the occasion of the bicentenary of Coke's birth, "No man in Methodism had a greater significance for his own age, for Methodism, and for the Missionary movement. No man, deserving to be remembered, has been more completely forgotten." The present book is, in fact, the first documented study of the man ever published. Based to a considerable degree on unpublished primary material, it aims to present Coke as a human being in relation to, and often in conflict with, his contemporaries. At the same time it examines critically the accusations of self-seeking ambition and inconsistency repeatedly brought against him. And it reviews his various roles as Wesley's right-hand man, as Asbury's uneasily yoked colleague, as a pioneer of missions at home as well as abroad, as preacher and author, and as devoted husband.

“Examines why the set-in-its-ways Coca Cola Company tampered with a drink that had become an American institution—and blundered into one of the greatest marketing triumphs of all time.”—New York On April 23, 1985, the top executives of the Coca-Cola Company held a press conference in New York City. News had leaked out that Coke, the king of soft drinks, would no longer be produced. In its place the Coca-Cola Company would offer a new drink with a new taste and would dare call it by the old name, Coca-Cola. The new Coke was launched—and the reaction of the American people was immediate and violent: three months of unrelenting protest against the loss of Coke. So fierce was the reaction across the country that it forced a response from the Coca-Cola Company. Stunned Coca-Cola executives stepped up to the microphone and publicly apologized to the American people. They announced that the company would reissue the original Coca-Cola formula under a new name, Coke Classic. The Real Coke, the Real Story is the behind-the-scenes account of what prompted Coca-Cola to change the taste of its flagship brand—and how consumers persuaded a corporate giant to bring back America’s old friend.