{"product_id":"little-bosses-everywhere-bridget-read-9780593443927","title":"Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America","description":"\u003cb\u003eA groundbreaking work of history and reportage that unveils the stranger-than-fiction world of multilevel marketing, from the shadowy cabals at the top to the strivers at the bottom, whose deferred dreams churn a massive money-making scam that has remade American society.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMultilevel marketing companies like Amway, Mary Kay, and Herbalife advertise the ultimate business opportunity: the chance to be your own boss. In exchange for peddling their wares, they offer a world of pink Cadillacs, white-columned mansions, tropical vacations, and--most precious of all--financial freedom. If, that is, you're willing to shell out for expensive products, recruit everyone you know to buy them, and make them recruit everyone \u003ci\u003ethey\u003c\/i\u003e know to do the same--thus creating the \"multiple levels\" of multilevel marketing, or MLM. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDespite overwhelming evidence that multilevel marketing causes most of its participants to \u003ci\u003elose\u003c\/i\u003e their money, and that many MLM companies are pyramid schemes, the industry's dubious origins, inextricably tied to well-known ideological figures like Ronald Reagan, have escaped public scrutiny. Behind the scenes of American life, MLM has slithered in the wake of every economic crisis of the last century, from the Depression to the pandemic, ensnaring laid-off workers, stay-at-home moms, teachers, nurses--anyone who has been left behind by inequality. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eLittle Bosses Everywhere, \u003c\/i\u003ejournalist Bridget Read tells the gripping story of multilevel marketing in full for the first time, winding from sunny post-war California, where a failed salesman started a vitamin business, through the suburbs of Michigan and North Carolina, where MLM bought its political protection, to the stadium-sized conventions where top sellers today preach to die-hard recruits. MLM has been endorsed by multiple American presidents, has its own Congressional caucus, and enriched powerful people, like the DeVos and Van Andel families, Warren Buffet, and Donald Trump. Along the way, Read delves into the heartbreaking stories of those enmeshed in the majority-female industry: a veteran in Florida searching for healing; a young mom in Texas struggling to feed her children; a waitress scraping by in Brooklyn. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA wild trip down an endless rabbit hole of greed and exploitation, \u003ci\u003eLittle Bosses Everywhere\u003c\/i\u003e exposes multilevel marketing as American capitalism's stealthiest PR campaign: a cunning right-wing political project that has shaped nearly everything about how we live.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Bridget Read\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0593443926\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593443927\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Crown Publishing Group (NY)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/06\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.25h x 6.13w x 0.75d","brand":"Bridget Read","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46250803626239,"sku":"9780593443927","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_8359d9ba-bb16-44ba-b5fa-6e5647d26b8a.jpg?v=1729601434","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/little-bosses-everywhere-bridget-read-9780593443927","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}