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topdragon's review against another edition
4.0
This was another of my son's "textbooks" that I decided to go ahead and read. Apparently, this is a pretty well-known book, infamous for exposing a lot of the "evil" aspects of Walmart. It does discuss a number of negative side effects associated with the company's perusal of the lowest prices, including labor violations, driving their own suppliers out of business, and the effects of new Walmarts going up in smaller towns and completely altering the state of local economies. But it also explores the positive aspects such as their decision to do away with boxes on containers of deodorant, which not only makes the product cheaper but also save amazing amounts of natural resources.
It reads easily and is easy to understand. Some parts were redundant, written in the typical journalistic way of providing the headline first followed by a few paragraphs of summary substance followed by detail after detail. The author is, indeed, a journalist, so I guess that's to be expected. My favorite parts were the first couple of chapters which describe just how absolutely humongous the Walmart Company really is and how much power they have. We all know it's huge but wow! that was an eye opener.
It reads easily and is easy to understand. Some parts were redundant, written in the typical journalistic way of providing the headline first followed by a few paragraphs of summary substance followed by detail after detail. The author is, indeed, a journalist, so I guess that's to be expected. My favorite parts were the first couple of chapters which describe just how absolutely humongous the Walmart Company really is and how much power they have. We all know it's huge but wow! that was an eye opener.
ashleystclair's review against another edition
3.0
This book was depressing, it only solidifies my hatred for Walmart as an evil corporation. The only "good" things they had to say about Walmart were how they made so many things so much cheaper for shoppers - but at what cost? It seems like they really ruined a lot of peoples lives and drove a lot of great companies to their demise. I'll never shop at a Walmart if I don't have to. Ever. Overall didn't care much for the style of writing in this book. It was a bit lengthy and threw weird positive swings on things I didn't feel were actually positive. This might be a result of it being a rather old book so come of the facts were a bit dated. But I'm glad I read it.
ashernessers's review against another edition
3.0
This book was depressing, it only solidifies my hatred for Walmart as an evil corporation. The only "good" things they had to say about Walmart were how they made so many things so much cheaper for shoppers - but at what cost? It seems like they really ruined a lot of peoples lives and drove a lot of great companies to their demise. I'll never shop at a Walmart if I don't have to. Ever. Overall didn't care much for the style of writing in this book. It was a bit lengthy and threw weird positive swings on things I didn't feel were actually positive. This might be a result of it being a rather old book so come of the facts were a bit dated. But I'm glad I read it.
crainey90's review against another edition
4.0
This is not the type of book I typically read, but I had to read it for a class. I was surprised by how well this book actually held my attention. There were times that I felt the stories got a bit redundant, but overall it was pretty good.
melissadegraffbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was a fairly unbiased discussion of Walmart. Walmart delivers low prices, which is a great idea, but sometimes ethical standards are ignored. Although in general I believe in a free-market economy, this book points out that Walmart is so big it can defy the market. I have definitely shopped less at Walmart after reading this book.
liziev's review against another edition
4.0
This was a book I read years ago, and re-read just now. It wasn't on my TBR list, but I was looking for a new book, stumbled upon this one, and ran right through it. It's one of those books that you can read over and over again, and catch new things you didn't see the first time. New things stuck out for me in this reading than the first time I read it, and I liked it just as much. It's a fantastic read, easy to read and understand, well written, and very thought provoking.
nanikeeva's review against another edition
3.0
some chapters were definitely more engaging than others - a good analysis of the top-down demands walmart has the power to make on its suppliers, and musings on what can be done if they were used for global good and not just cutting costs