Buy the Book: Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Booskhop
Published by: Penguin Publishing Group
Release Date: June 29, 2010
Pages: 296
ISBN13: 978-0143117636

 
Overview

A myth-shattering investigation of the true cost of America’s passion for finding a better bargain

From the shuttered factories of the Rust Belt to the strip malls of the Sun Belt-and almost everywhere in between-America has been transformed by its relentless fixation on low price. This pervasive yet little- examined obsession with bargains is arguably the most powerful and devastating market force of our time, having fueled an excess of consumerism that blights our land­scapes, escalates personal debt, lowers our standard of living, and even skews of our concept of time.

Spotlighting the peculiar forces that drove Americans away from quality, durability, and craftsmanship and towards quantity, quantity, and more quantity, Ellen Ruppel Shell traces the rise of the bargain through our current big-box profusion to expose the astronomically high cost of cheap.

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Praise

“Pay full price for this book... It's worth it.”
—The New York Times Book Review (read the full review)

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Excerpt