Reefer Madness: And Other Tales from the American Underground

Summary

In Reefer Madness, the author of the New York Times bestsellers Command and Control and Fast Food Nation, investigates America’sblack market and its far-reaching influence on our society through three of itsmainstays—pot, porn, and illegal immigrants.

Theunderground economy is vast; it comprises perhaps ten percent—or more—ofAmerica’s overall economy, and it’s on the rise. Eric Schlosser charts thisgrowth and finds its roots in the nexus of ingenuity, greed, idealism, andhypocrisy that is American culture. He reveals the fascinating workings of theshadow economy by focusing on marijuana, one of the nation’s largest cashcrops; pornography, whose greatest beneficiaries include Fortune 100 companies;and illegal migrant workers, whose lot often resembles that of medieval serfs.

All threeindustries show how the black market has burgeoned over the past three decades,as America’s reckless faith in the free market has combined with a deep-seatedpuritanism to create situations both preposterous and tragic. Schlosser tracescompelling parallels between underground and over ground: how tycoons andgangsters rise and fall, how new technology shapes a market, how governmentintervention can reinvigorate black markets as well as mainstream ones, how bigbusiness learns from—and profits from—the underground.

Withintrepid reportage, rich history, and incisive argument, Schlosser illuminatesthe shadow economy and the culture that casts that shadow.