Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America

Journalist MacGillis uncompromisingly reveals how quickly and completely Amazon revolutionized aspects of the U.S. economy and society without many participants in the changes even noticing. Focusing on people in a handful of racially diverse communities across the country (including Seattle, El Paso, Baltimore, rural Ohio, and suburban Virginia), this book makes clear the scope of Amazon-induced changes, but doesn’t get too bogged down in complexities of the business operations of this vast and complex corporation. Amazon successfully exploited vulnerabilities inherent in weakened relationships in business, government, labor, and social networks during the first decade of the 21st century, according to MacGillis. The allure of working with or for Amazon frequently coincided with diminished options for laborers, suppliers, businesses, and local governments, who often found they were working against their own interests. MacGillis's narrative is full of anecdotes and solid factual evidence that ground his discussions of supply chains, data centers, logistics, warehouses, and fulfillment centers. He also tells of people who attempted to resist the seemingly irresistible transformations. These people were the exceptions and not the rule, MacGillis writes, as Americans at all levels conceded—sometimes reluctantly, often enthusiastically—to Amazon's successful expansion, domination, and destruction of individuality and community.