Publishers Weekly
10/10/2022
Walmart has come a long way since its days as the bogeyman of American capitalism—but not far enough, according to this thought-provoking treatise on the shortcomings of socially responsible corporations. Wartzman (The End of Loyalty), who leads a nonprofit that received funding from Walmart’s corporate foundation “to develop a lifelong learning system through which residents of a local community could obtain new knowledge and skills,” explores how, after years of being criticized for paying low wages, treating employees poorly, and harming the environment, the company made some minor shifts. “In sync with its frugal culture,” he writes, Walmart shrank packaging and engineered more energy-efficient trucks in 2004. The ascension of CEO Doug McMillon in 2014 brought more changes, including increased wages. While acknowledging that small steps have been made, Wartzman argues that leaving fair labor practices up to a company itself can only change so much. He calls for a federal minimum wage of $20 an hour, and concludes that only a government mandate and a change in labor laws can correct economic inequality: “It is well past the time for those we elect to public office to force the matter.” This smart survey offers much to consider. Agent: Kris Dahl, ICM Partners. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
Rick Wartzman proves, once again, why he is America’s most compelling historian of corporate culture. Still Broke is fair-minded, exacting, and brutally clear that achieving humane wages for frontline workers will take more than good intentions. This should be required reading for every CEO, union leader, and politician in America.”—Evan Osnos, staff writer, New Yorker, and author of Wildland
“Still Broke is an important, comprehensive, supremely balanced study of how Walmart treats its workers. Despite a close and cooperative relationship with Walmart, Wartzman pulls no punches in his efforts to pass judgment on his corporate subject’s incomplete efforts to do right by its employees. It’s totally absorbing.”—Adam Lashinsky, author of Wild Ride
“With nuance and unparalleled access, Wartzman thoughtfully dissects the ‘corporate Rashomon’ that is Walmart. Still Broke is a fast-paced narrative that offers essential and sobering insights at a pivotal moment for industrial relations.”—Miriam Pawel, author of The Crusades of Cesar Chavez and The Union of Their Dreams
“Still Broke is a 360-degree portrait of Walmart, a company that has for years been a synonym for ‘greed.’ Wartzman’s reporting on the corporation and its history is balanced and thorough. He concludes with well-reasoned solutions that might improve this case study in extreme capitalism, including raising the minimum wage higher than you might expect. The book is that rare title that is for corporate consultants and community organizers.”—Alissa Quart, executive director, the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and author of Squeezed
“Still Broke is a look behind the curtain at the inner workings of one of the world’s most controversial corporations. With thorough and excellent reporting and research, Wartzman delivers a portrait of Walmart that contains a number of surprises. Still, anyone who reads through to the book’s stunning final chapter will know that Wartzman doesn’t hold back. He understands exactly what’s ailing this country.”—Michael Tomasky, editor, the New Republic, and author of The Middle Out
“Walmart, in Wartzman’s fascinating account, is not the caricature of evildoing popular on the left side of Twitter. Yet Still Broke returns us to the most fundamental question about America’s value proposition, built around the value of a good hour’s work. If even corporations like Walmart, which seems to have bought into its broader responsibilities toward society, cannot find it in their interest to provide a decent living to the workers who toil for them, should they be left to set the rules?”—Eduardo Porter, columnist, Bloomberg Opinion, and former Economic Scene columnist, the New York Times
“Wartzman’s investigation of the company in all its complexity is thoroughly researched, and he deftly and meaningfully connects the issue of chronically low wages at Walmart to a larger undervaluation of the labor of millions of Americans…A well-written account of a corporate American juggernaut and its implications for society as a whole.”—Kirkus
“[A] thought-provoking treatise… This smart survey offers much to consider.”—Publishers Weekly
“[N]uanced… [Wartzman] does a good job summarising the company’s evolutions and tensions.”—Financial Times
“Will deepen readers’ understanding of the negative effects of low-cost retail goods and of the need for both corporations and the government to do more to make the promise of a living wage into a reality...Interesting and evenhanded.”—Library Journal
“[C]areful, exhaustive research and engrossing storytelling.”—Airmail
“Still Broke provides readers with an understanding of how Walmart and many other big US companies have resisted paying humane compensation, making a clear case for a dramatic increase in the federal minimum wage. It’s also a well-told behind-the-scenes narrative of how change does—and doesn’t—happen at a big corporation, and how such businesses can go significantly astray.”—TIME
“Wartzman is a relentless reporter of fact, and has the writerly skill to tell an engaging, as opposed to enraging, story.”—Narrative Species
“One of the best business books I’ve read lately.”—Binyamin Appelbaum
Library Journal
11/01/2022
Why would the leaders of corporate giant Walmart give an all-access pass to a journalist known for taking companies to task for putting their bottom line ahead of the well-being of their employees? The answer remains unclear, but they may have been convinced by Wartzman's (The End of Loyalty: The Rise and Fall of Good Jobs in America) pitch to focus on what the company has done right and where it's fallen short. With this book, the author makes good on that promise. The narrative jumps around Walmart's timeline—back to Sam Walton's initial vision, forward to Walmart's leadership in relief efforts post-Katrina and its surprise embrace of sustainability, and around in time to its various clashes with unions and affiliate groups. The focus, however, returns to the company's treatment of its frontline workers. This book may or may not change minds (pro or con) about Walmart, but it will deepen readers' understanding of the negative effects of low-cost retail goods and of the need for both corporations and the government to do more to make the promise of a living wage into a reality. VERDICT Interesting and evenhanded. Will appeal to a broad readership.—Sara Holder
Kirkus Reviews
2022-08-31
A detailed examination of the retail behemoth.
By the early 2000s, Walmart was often cited as the worst example of “a race-to-the-bottom brand of capitalism,” eliminating competition and chronically underpaying its huge workforce. Then, starting in 2015, Walmart implemented a series of measures, from pay increases to expanded opportunities for its employees, that prompted even skeptics to rethink the company’s image as a bastion of unfettered corporate evil. Wartzman, most recently the author of The End of Loyalty: The Rise and Fall of Good Jobs in America (2017) and a longtime critic of Walmart, wanted to explore the company’s complex journey and image. When Sam Walton opened the first Walmart in Arkansas in 1962, he emphasized low prices, quality products, and serving rural areas; the company went public in 1970 and went on to become one of the nation’s biggest retailers. Walton engendered employee loyalty through profit sharing and stock options, but he also intentionally kept wages low and vehemently opposed efforts to organize labor. After he died in 1992, both outsiders and employees felt the company abandoned any dedication to taking care of its employees in favor of solely cutting costs. Over time, the company improved efforts to be sustainable, was rightfully praised for its efforts during Hurricane Katrina, and expanded worker training; yet “where it had the most direct control—deciding how much to pay its workers—it hadn’t moved an inch.” In 2016, Walmart finally raised its minimum hourly wage to $10 after decades of pressure from labor efforts. Even with the increase, writes the author, “the average full-time employee at the company was still going to be making less than $26,000 a year.” Wartzman’s investigation of the company in all its complexity is thoroughly researched, and he deftly and meaningfully connects the issue of chronically low wages at Walmart to a larger undervaluation of the labor of millions of Americans.
A well-written account of a corporate American juggernaut and its implications for society as a whole.
