Fast Food Nation

In the introduction to his book Fast Food Nation, Erin Schlosser writes, "Fast food has proven to be a revolutionary force in American life; I am interested in it both as a commodity and as a metaphor." This apt metaphor begins with his ingenious comparison of a Domino's pizza box with an American flag on the previous page. Fast Food Nation is brilliantly written; the enduring popularity of the book is testament not only to it's moral integrity, but also to it's gripping and witty style. The structure of the book itself is creative. From chapter to chapter, the book explores distinct aspects of the whole; pieces of the integrated metaphor. This structure is similar to a successful hyper-essay in the way that it achieves a breadth of different information that can be easily accessed in a non-linear way. "Behind the Counter," the third chapter of the book, can be understood without having read the first two chapters. We can skip to Chapter 8, "The Most Dangerous Job," without skipping a beat. Of course, for a more complete understanding it would be helpful to read the entire book. But this is the nature of a hyper-essay; readers will pick out what catches their interest in particular, and if they are engaged enough by the site, perhaps they will read the rest.
I saw the recent film adaptation of Fast Food Nation before reading any of the book. Although I think the film fails in trying to establish a fictional narrative structure for the situations described in the book, I think it was effective in visually portraying the gruesome reality of the slaughterhouse. The book does not include these images. However, a hyper-essay can include full color photographs, and even movies. This mixed-media format holds a lot of power, and with the advent of "YouTube" I think that hyper-essays have the potential to combine the best of all mediums.