UNITED STATES OF WAL-MART, THE(沃尔玛帝国)

It employs one of every I 15 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,WaI-Mart is corporate enemy number one.
　The United States of WaI-Mart is an irreverent, hard-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 propaganda and 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 for the irony inherent in American cap-italism, Dicker discovers that while WaI-Mart may be providing consumers with cheap goods, it is also breeding a culture of discontent.

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An irreverent, hard-hitting examination of the world's largest-and most reviled-corporation, which reveals that while Wal-Mart's dominance may be providing consumers with cheap goods and plentiful jobs, it may also be breeding a culture of discontent.

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 $260 billion and an average way of $8 an hour, Wal-Mart represents an unprecedented-and perhaps unstoppable-force in capitalism. And there have been few corporations that have evoked the same levels of reverence and ire.

The United States of Wal-Mart is a hard-hitting examination of how Sam Walton's empire has infiltrated not just the geography of America but also its consciousness. Peeling away layers of propaganda and politics, investigative journalist John Dicker reveals an American (and, increasingly, a global) story that has no clear-cut villains or heroes-one that could be the confused, complicated story of America itself.

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 beginning to coalesce into an all-out war to define our modern era. And, Dicker argues, Wal-Mart is winning. Revealing that the company's business practices have been shaping American culture, including the nation's social, political, and industrial policy, The United States of Wal-Mart provides fresh insight into a controversy that isn't going away.

John Dicker is a journalist whose work has appeared in The Nation, Salon, and the Colorado Springs Independent, among other publications.

Introduction: The United States of Wal-Mart
PART ONE：SIZE MATTERS
1 Size Matters (Now More Than Ever)
2 "Most Versatile Boy": How Sam Walton Became an Ethos
　3 The Growth Machine
　4 Wal-Marts Behaving Badly, I
　5 Wal-Marts Behaving Badly, II
　6 Proceeds from the Sale of This Item Help Move Jobs to Guangdong! Wal-Mart Goes Global
PART TWO：THE UNITED STATES OF WAL-MART
　7 Spin City
　8 It's a Wal-Mart World After All
　9 Taming the Beast
　10 Race, Class, and Cul-de-Sac Radicals Saying No to Wal-Mart
　11 Land of the White, Blue, and You
Acknowledgments
Notes
Resources
Index