The Retail Revolution

A terrific book... Lichtenstein does a beautiful job of putting Wal-Mart in its historical context... A definitive account not only of Wal-Mart's past but also of the forces shaping its future. -- Los Angeles Times <br> Nelson Lichtenstein has written the book on Wal-Mart. You can read it as a sober indictment of the rogue company that happens also to be the world's largest corporation. Or you can read it as a brilliantly reported case study in what's gone wrong with the American--and the global--economy. Either way, you will read it, as I did, with complete fascination. --Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed <br> Offers penetrating insights... Lichtenstein sheds valuable light on the technological reasons for Wal-Mart's success... and provides a detailed look at the dark side of the company's employment practices.... As Lichtenstein argues, Wal-Mart may have done more than any other American institution to undermine labor regulations. -- The New York Times Book Review<br> <br> The Retail Revolution is usefully comprehensive and offers the best account yet of the myriad problems that Wal-Mart employees endure. --Slate.com<br> Surely the best account we have of Wal-Mart's metamorphosis from a backwater chain to the nation's dominant corporation... The rise of Wal-Mart, and the national economy it has shaped in its image, is a story that Lichtenstein is eminently suited to tell. -- The American Prospect <br> Comprehensive socioeconomic history... Lichtenstein paints a convincing portrait of a multinational conglomerate willing to dehumanize people in the pursuit of profit, even as it tries to convince us that people are its No. 1 concern. A definitive survey of Wal-Mart and the company's worldview. -- Kirkus Reviews America's wisest historian of business and labor has produced a masterpiece of reportage and analysis about the self-service country store that grew into the biggest merchandiser in the world. The Retail Revolution is far more t