According to Rosen (Popcorn Venus
), Sam Walton's retail empire—currently facing criticism for inadequate wages, sexual discrimination, predatory pricing and pernicious environmental and overseas practices—is “the largest and most controversial U.S. corporation.” Bethany Moreton's recent and enlightening To Serve God and Wal-Mart
notes that Wal-Mart plays a conspicuous role in recent transformations in American business, consumer and labor practices and their global cultural consequences. Rosen agrees, but she has come to praise, not bury, the international giant, and her far too circumscribed profile—focusing on the hometown headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., and the surrounding “boom” region it influences—emphasizes Wal-Mart's character as a generous, “surprisingly good neighbor” and engine of multiculturalism, incorporating Hindus, Muslims, Jews, African-Americans, Marshall Islanders and Latinos into “white-bread” Bible Belt communities. Rosen glosses over employee complaints, lawsuits and informed critiques of Wal-Mart's operation and conservative brand of Christian entrepreneurialism with the savvy of a public relations pro in this laudatory and utterly unbalanced portrait. (Oct.)
