
Reefer Madness
Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $16.46
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Eric Schlosser
-
By:
-
Eric Schlosser
The underground economy is vast; it comprises perhaps 10 percent - perhaps more - of America's overall economy, and it's on the rise. Eric Schlosser charts this growth, and finds its roots in the nexus of ingenuity, greed, idealism, and hypocrisy that is American culture. He reveals the fascinating workings of the shadow economy by focusing on marijuana, one of the nation's largest cash crops; pornography, whose greatest beneficiaries include Fortune 100 companies; and illegal migrant workers, whose lot often resembles that of medieval serfs.
All three industries show how the black market has burgeoned over the past three decades, as America's reckless faith in the free market has combined with a deep-seated Puritanism to create situations both preposterous and tragic. Through pot, porn, and migrants, Schlosser traces compelling parallels between underground and overground: how tycoons and gangsters rise and fall, how new technology shapes a market, how government intervention can reinvigorate black markets as well as mainstream ones, how big business learns - and profits - from the underground.
With intrepid reportage, rich history, and incisive argument, Schlosser illuminates the shadow economy and the culture that casts that shadow.
©2003 Eric Schlosser (P)2003 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Like Fast Food Nation, this is an eye-opening book, offering the same high level of reporting and research." (Publishers Weekly)
"Schlosser's precise outrage is as compelling off as on the page." (AudioFile)
People who viewed this also viewed...

Reefer Madness
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Content good, reader boring
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wake up America
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The reefer part reminded in precise terms why we urgently need to legalize this drug, something I agree very strongly with even though I'm not a user. Being involved in sustainable food, I was glad to see such a thorough and unflinching look at the abuses of farm laborers. Both are discussed realistically and compassionately.
The porn section didn't disappoint either. I've met a lot of the people he interviews and I'd say he did them and the industry justice, which is to say he shows it for what it is. He doesn't get into any hysterical moralizing, respects the agency of the performers, and touches on the bad points in what I felt was an accurate matter, if a somewhat fleeting one. My only real complaint was that he seemed to be fooled to some extent by Bill Margold's act. The guy is a grade A asshole, which sadly doesn't come across here. He likes to paint himself as some sort of industry spokesperson when he's just another annoying small-time producer, and unfortunately Schlosser seems to believe him. But if you keep that in mind, the interview is still informative and interesting. So there's my insider's take, haha.
All in all a fascinating read backed with real facts and figures, and I like it when the author is able to narrate his or her own work well.
Fascinating and accurate
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Lots of Facts
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Interesting Perspective
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
While the drug wars in other countries have taken a more proactive and rehabilitive approach, America stands idle, sometimes moving in reverse of a policy that actually work. Meanwhile cheap labor continues to be a profitable tool for the wealthy while blame gets displaced on disparaged immigrants trying to survive in a system that is focused on corporate greed and class and economic warfare. And pornography? Well, as the books theme comes full circle we learn an important value in our society. The more our government doesn't want us to have something, the more we want that something.
Schlosser takes a hard look at three very important parts of our economy, although small in comparison to most of the economy, large in our culture. I am really looking forward to Fast Food Nation!
Insightful read/listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Should be required reading in High School because it teaches us about how the world really is versus how society would like us to think it does. It also tells us a lot about our media (right and left) that totallly ignores what their audiences want to ignore.
Should Be Required Reading
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
My only negative is Mr. Slosser's voice. I found it a little drab and boring. The subject matter made up for that, but it was a little ditracting in the beginning.
Pot, Sex and Strawberries
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.