143 reviews for:

Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America

Alec MacGillis, Stefan Alexander MacGillis

3.9 AVERAGE

bookanonjeff's review against another edition

5.0

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Amazon's Long Shadow. This book seeks to show the America that was, and the America that is in the Age of Amazon and how the former became the latter. And in that goal, it actually does remarkably well. Sprinkling case study after case study after case study with history, political science, and social science, this book truly does a remarkable job of showing the changing reality of living and working in an America that has gone from hyper local business to one of hyper global - and the giant blue smiley swoosh that has accompanied much of this transition over the last 2o years in particular. Very much a literary style work, this perhaps won't work for those looking for a more in-depth attack on Amazon, nor will it really work for those looking for a true in-depth look at Amazon's specific practices. But it does serve as a solid work of showing many of Amazon's overall tactics and how they are both the result of change and the precipice of other change. Very much recommended.

renee_pompeii's review against another edition

2.0

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There was a lot going on here, the author had so much they wanted to get in there which I felt derailed the topic, though some may love that kind of microscopic backstory. I kept forgetting I was supposed to be reading a book about Amazon.

emilykennedy's review against another edition

3.5

dark informative tense slow-paced

wspence's review against another edition

4.0

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I read about this book in Wired and Ironically bought it on Amazon. With the continued conversations (and evidence) of the Wealth gap in America, I was interested to see the meteoric rise of Amazon. Having visited Seattle a couple years ago (and biking around the whole city) it was evident how extreme this gap has become.

Don't get me wrong, this book does only really tell one side of the story, but it is worth reading if your curious about how those books get to you within 2 days.....and the explanation on why they sometimes just go missing. The author does an amazing job explaining the back story of each "Amazon expansion" area, and how they took advantage of the infrastructure there. The only reason I gave this a 4 vs a 5 was I would have liked to hear more investigating from Amazon's side.

georgia29's review

DID NOT FINISH: 25%

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Due back at library, get out at library again later

therevallison's review against another edition

4.25

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

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Slow star, abrupt end.
But as the book got more interesting, I got more mad.
I knew a lot of this, intellectually, but to hear the stories of people's lives shaped and destroyed by Amazon's ruthless expansion is another. 
I am going to have to do some soul searching about my own personal relationship with Amazon. 

jgirard's review against another edition

3.0

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A bit breathless and bit of a hit piece. But interesting. Would have been much better if it had explored a different thesis than “Amazon is bad”.

Author even had the much more interesting alternate story laid out and just didn’t chase it down: is the government or the private citizen a better allocator of resources for the public good?

That question was left unexplored in favor of turning Amazon and Jeff Bezos into cartoon villains.

readingrainb0w's review against another edition

3.25

informative slow-paced

janemarple's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

chibi418's review against another edition

3.0

emotional informative sad slow-paced