It employs one of every 115 American workers. If it were a nation-state, it would be one of the world's top twenty economies. With yearly sales of nearly $288 billion, Wal-Mart is an unprecedented—and perhaps unstoppable—force in capitalism. And yet few American corporations have evoked the same level of ire. In a world of countless corporate villains, Wal-Mart is corporate enemy numver one.
The United States of Wal-Mart is an irrevent, hitting examination of how Sam Walton's empire has infiltrated not just the geography of America, but also its conscious-ness. Peeling away layers of politics, Journalist John Dicker reveals an American (and, increasingly, a global) story that has no clear-cut villains or heroes. Pitched battles between economic progress and quality of life, between the preservation of regional identity and national homogeneity, and between low prices and the dignity of the American worker are coalescing into an all-out war to define our modern era. With wry-ness, penetrating intelligence, and a healthy respect respect for the irony inherent in American cap-italism, Dicker discovers that while Wal-Mart may be providing consumers with cheap goods, it is breeding a culture of discontent.
