About this title: Marijuana, pornography, and immigrant migration: in common, they share the dubious distinction of having three of the largest black markets in history. And their prosperity is only growing. Noted essayist Schlosser, author of FAST FOOD NATION, examines these three market sectors and dissects what it is about these enterprises that makes them flourish underground. A New York Times Notable Book for 2003.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: RB Large Print
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9781402563850ISBN:140256385X
Description: Good. Large print library discard-stickers, stamps, etc. Cover/pages clean. Binding is secure. Minor cover/edge wear. Great reading copy! Buy with confidence-5 Star Reliability Rating! read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Clean pages, no marks or tears, mild reading & shelf wear with pages turned up, corners/edges bumped/lightly worn, small rip front cover edge, tight binding, solid. Glued binding. 310 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780618334667ISBN:0618334661
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Description: Fine. Almost in new condition. Book shows only very slight signs of use. Cover and binding are undamaged and pages show minimal use. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fine. Almost in new condition. Book shows only very slight signs of use. Cover and binding are undamaged and pages show minimal use. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780618334667ISBN:0618334661
Description: Good. Hardcover ex-library book with dust jacket in good condition. All usual stamps and markings. Pages are clean and the binding is tight. read more
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. 384 Pages. Measures: 6-1/4" x 9-1/4" Clean, tight copy with no writings or markings except for some minor marks in the margins but none past page 20. Not an Ex-Library book or Book Club Edition. Colorfully illustrated dust jacket. Includes 3 parts, Notes, Bibliography, Index, and a photograph and a brief biography of the author as well as a list of his other writings. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780965762649ISBN:0965762645
Description: New. Clean, crisp & tight, never read. NO-remainder mark! Slight shelfwear. Books may have a remainder mark on bottom of text block. read more
"I loved Fast Food Nation so I picked this up. I had no real interest in the topic but wanted a change of pace from my usual books. The cheap labor in Americas farm systems was the weakest part of the book. The marijuana part was interesting to see the evolution of the laws and attitudes surrounding the drug. The part that made the book was the section about the porn industry. It was amazing. I have told people to just read that section of the book. It was an amazing story about one man and how he basically created the porn industry. It was this part alone that makes the book great. The other parts kept the book from the 5 star rating. The other parts were good just not great. For someone who was not interested, it really shocked me and drew me in."
"This is a powerful book. Broken into 3 parts, it deals with the history of our approach to marijuana use; our use of illegal immigrants, specifically in the strawberry fields of California; and the development of porn in our country, how it grew, and how our government's attempt to suppress it only continued to spark the flame.
Eric Schlosser's meticulous research is written in an easy to understand form. He states the facts without any bias. For instance, you'll learn that a young man, with no prior record, arrested for marijuana possession can receive a longer prison sentence than a convicted murderer or rapist. And, while our country is in an uproar over illegal immigrants, our government allows these people to be used like slaves when convenient. When they are no longer needed, they are rounded up like cattle and sent back to Mexico.
In the end, whether you agree with his conclusions or not, a new light is shed on a world most of us pay no attention to. And perhaps tells us that we need to get more involved."
"The author examines three different areas of life in America where the government has passed laws saying one thing, and a very large number of people has decided to flout these laws.
This is an unstable situation and sometime in the future one side or the other will give way.
The section on illegal immigrants is the best treatment of that subject I've seen. The author gives many facts that illegal's push down wages for American citizens, delay technological advance, and cause other problems for citizens.
If you want a coherent study of the dark underbelly of life in parts of the USA, this book is a good read."
"Here, you'll discover all about the darker side of our economy. Schlosser covers three large areas of the black market: marijuana (hence the title), illegal immigration, and pornography. It's very interesting to learn that we are, sometimes, unwittingly contributing to the growth of these industries. I never knew that each time I bought strawberries, for instance, that I might be supporting the exploitation of poor migrant farm workers. Not only that, but also the book shows a humane, compassionate side of the story. You will learn about the plight of these strawberry pickers. They are working jobs for pay unimaginable -- yet it is more than they would ever dream of making back in Mexico. Does that make it okay for us to use them and then forget about them? You'll become much more conscious of what you buy and don't buy after reading. The book also opened my eyes to the irony of marijuana -- why does our society punish the usage of marijuana more harshly than murder? Does that sound reasonable to you? Also, there would be huge profits to be gained if marijuana were sold legally -- and just tax it! Schlosser covers the effect of marijuana, it's history (which is very surprising, if you ask me), and how it's illegal status gave rise to a large illegal drug trade. It's very interesting to find out that once upon a time, the colonies required the citizens to grow hemp because of its versatility and usefulness. In fact, George Washington used to have a huuuge hemp farm. So where is our current War on Drugs going and are our tax dollars spent towards a fruitless endeavor? Read the book and find out! Last but not least, pornography. This section was longer than the other two combined, and for a good reason perhaps. Pornography has always been a topic concerning our basic right: freedom of expression. So how does the supreme court or any society determine when this expression crosses the line? How do we define obscenity? Again, this book opened my eyes to other societies around the world that legalized pornography and then made it widely available -- and guess what, at first its sales peaked and then people gradually lost interest in buying it. So does widespread porno degrade our society? Most likely not. Also, the book covered the lives of the people in the sex industry. Schlosser met with non-mainstream people who dreamt of making it big as a porn star. He also met the big shots who made porno become a part of our pop culture.
All in all, this is worth a read if you are interested in the economy we all dabble in but don't see in full form everyday. Read it if you wish to know where our money is being spent. Read it if you care about protecting our rights and becoming a better informed citizen. The book will not offer you bias such as, 'Sex is the devil!' or 'Marijuana will kill you', etc. Your education begins here."
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