" ... much of the world around us--from the food we eat to the products we buy to the medications we take--is shaped by private negotiations and business deals few of us know about. The Deals That Made the World, takes us inside the sphere of these powerful players, examining ten groundbreaking business deals that have transformed our modern economy. Peretti reveals how corporate executives engineered an entire diet industry built on failure; how...

"In this critique of America's consumption-based society, author Jennifer Hill chronicles the impact of consumer culture on children--from the evolution of childhood play to a child's self-perception as a consumer to the consequences of this generation's repeated media exposure to violence. Hill proposes that corporations, eager to tap into a multibillion-dollar market, use the power of advertising and the media to mold children's thoughts and behaviors....

"Is global capitalism on its last legs? Is the era of America leadership over? Has the West begun a decline into a new Dark Age? Does American civilization deserve to survive? These are the unnerving questions raised by the Great Crash of 2009." "Howard Bloom has a radically new answer. In The Genius of the Beast, the author of the acclaimed books The Lucifer Principle and Global Brain insists that Western civilization has only begun to realize its...

"When considering how we should introduce this volume, we reflected on our own lives as women who both grew up in America, but whose heritages are distinct. We are both daughters of male liberal arts professors who provided most of the family income, while our mothers focused on child-rearing and community activities, as well as by-choice educational pursuits and forays into the working world. Linda is a first-generation American whose parents emigrated...

"Understanding the post-crisis consumer In Spend Shift, John Gerzema, world-renowned expert on consumer values, and Pulitzer prizewinning author Michael D'Antonio document the rise of a vibrant, values-driven post-recession economy. To tell the story of this movement, the authors travel to large cities and small towns across eight bellwether states, to examine the value shifts sweeping the nation. Through in-depth observation, proprietary data from...