Big-Box Swindle

Large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America and are rapidly transforming our economy, communities, and landscape. Local-business researcher Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising water pollution and diminished civic engagement. Mitchell's investigation takes us from the suburbs of Cleveland to a fruit farm in California, the stockroom of an Oregon Wal-Mart, and a Pennsylvania town's Main Street. She uncovers the role government policy has played in the expansion of…