This was a brilliant book that took its time to tell a complex story of how America has changed with shift away from a manufacturing economy – and especially how Amazon has affected and profited from this change.
First, the book is focused on the long game, so a little patience is required to follow the theme, but it is rewarded with a very wide view of the issues. This shift in how America works is huge, with real consequences across many different industries and lifestyles, so a quick “Amazon is bad” message would be inadequate. The writing here is investigational style, with facts and figures to help illustrate the message. The writer doesn’t tell you what to think as much as frame the issue in a way that leads to your own conclusions.
Coming at this from my point of view as someone who no longer lives in America, the changes described in the book don’t resonate with me as I’ve not seen them firsthand, but I guess that people living in the USA will find a lot they recognize.
And as for Amazon in Japan, it was interesting to see how things are different here, especially surrounding the issue of lower income workers and dying cities. For various reasons the broad changes that swept through the USA over the last two decades are not occurring here at nearly the same pace.
I’d like to read more of these kinds of books – taking a methodical look at social issues like this one does seems to be my style of reading.
The next book I am reading is An Area of Darkness by V. S. Naipaul.
