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homa99's review against another edition
4.0
The final chapter, on pornography, bites. It follows the trials and tribulations of one man instead of focusing on the market at large. BUT the first chapter, on marijuana, is awesome.
dharma130's review against another edition
3.0
This was one of our book club picks. Can't remember it so I musn't have been that impressed with it.
cpweiden's review against another edition
2.0
Just OK...Mr. Schlosser looks at the black market industires of immigrant labor, whore houses and pot. The pot sections is by far the best. The rest....just skip it.
jimmacsyr's review against another edition
4.0
This book is very interesting. I learned a lot about the money side of porn and the history/mechanics of immigrant labor. The drug discussion focused more on the myopic focus we pay to marijuana punishment. Really interesting overall.
josh_paul's review against another edition
4.0
More fine journalism, should probably be three books to really give adequate treatment to each of the topics, but he does well with the limited space.
lavoiture's review
2.0
I thought I would love this book, but I didn't. It does make me feel really guilty about eating strawberries, though. I think the book tried to cover too much--one of the three topics would have been enough. But the author seems to be a really cool guy. I saw him at a reading when the book was released, and for some reason the only thing I could think to say when I had my Fast Food Nation book signed was: "Hi. I can't afford to buy your new book." Huh?? Anyway, he said, "That's ok. You can check it out at the library." I ended up buying it, anyway, but that's pretty cool, Eric. Pretty cool.
jwsg's review against another edition
3.0
Having loved Fast Food Nation, I was really excited to see this on the shelf at Borders. While the topic was fascinating - a look at the US underground economy, from illegal farm workers to drugs and prostitution - the writing was just not as engaging as that in Fast Food Nation. Three stars for the topic, two stars for the writing.
natalie_quintana's review against another edition
2.0
I thought that this book had some great information and great insight into the black markets that exist in America today. I did however, find the title misleading as it was about 3 distinct black markets, not just the marijuana trade. I would have liked this book more if the author spent more time in the connection between these three markets and how they apply to our world today rather than simply stating the facts. Much of this book read like a textbook. Like I said earlier, it had some great snipits of information and a whole history on each black market, but it was kind of "meh."
emheld's review against another edition
4.0
Truthfully 3.75/5. The books needed more on illegal immigration and, perhaps, to cast a wider net on the drug question. The porn stuff was more a history lesson/biographical profile, but it did illuminate how the market can imperceptibly switch back and forth between accepted and legal to secretly tolerated and "black."
crgs's review against another edition
3.0
I loved his other book, how he writes a very factual journalistic subject like a juicy novel.
The stories of the people that he interviewed and the way that he builds his arguments and viewpoints is very enjoyable and informative.
I enjoyed it, but not as much as Fast Food Nation, and some parts I remember took me a little longer to read through.
The stories of the people that he interviewed and the way that he builds his arguments and viewpoints is very enjoyable and informative.
I enjoyed it, but not as much as Fast Food Nation, and some parts I remember took me a little longer to read through.