As much as 10% of the American economy, and perhaps more, is comprised of illegal "underground" enterprises, according to author and Atlantic Monthly correspondent Eric Schlosser. And while this segment is never discussed in the newspaper business pages, Schlosser tackles it with the same in-depth analysis and compulsive readability that made his Fast Food Nation a best seller. Reefer Madness spotlights marijuana, migrant labor, and pornography, three of the most thriving black market industries, and analyzes the often-tenuous place each holds in society as a whole. While each of the three could be the subject of its own book, Schlosser keeps his scope narrow by concentrating on the lives of the participants in the underground economy, especially Mark Young, an Indiana man given a life sentence for participating in a marijuana sale, and Ohio porn magnate Reuben Sturman. At just 21 pages, the treatment of migrant laborers in the California strawberry fields is dealt with more briefly but is just as compelling thanks to the first-person narrative of Schlosser’s investigation. In telling these stories, which are both personal and universal, Schlosser deftly explores the manner in which his subjects are treated (and punished) compared to others in more above-ground ventures. Along the way, he asks hard questions as to what that treatment says about America. Schlosser writing is passionately opinionated, but this is no mere opinion piece: his perspective is amply supported by extensive research and clearly reasoned interpretation of data. His direct and forceful writing style makes the impact greater still. After reading Reefer Madness, readers are likely to be shocked, appalled, and flat-out bewildered by what’s happening in the cracks and crevices of American business. --John Moe


From Publishers Weekly
From the bestselling author of Fast Food Nation comes this captivating look at the underbelly of the American marketplace. In three sections, Schlosser, an Atlantic Monthly correspondent, examines the marijuana, migrant labor and pornography trades, offering compelling tales of crime and punishment as well as an illuminating glimpse at the inner workings of the underground economy. The book revolves around two figures: Mark Young of Indiana, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his relatively minor role in a marijuana deal; and Reuben Sturman, an enigmatic Ohio man who built and controlled a formidable pornography distribution empire before finally being convicted of tax evasion, after beating a string of obscenity charges. Through recounting Young's and Sturman's ordeals, and to a lesser extent, the lives of migrant strawberry pickers in California, Schlosser unravels an American society that has "become alienated and at odds with itself." Like Fast Food Nation, this is an eye-opening book, offering the same high level of reporting and research. But while Schlosser does put forth forceful and unique market-based arguments, he isn't the first to take aim at the nation's drug laws and the puritanical hypocrisy that seeks to jail pornographers while permitting indentured servitude in California's strawberry fields. Nevertheless, this is a solid-and timely-second effort from Schlosser. As world events force Americans to choose values worth fighting for, Schlosser reminds readers, "the price of freedom is often what freedom brings."Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
The American black market accounts for 10 percent of the U.S. economy, according to this crusading journalist. "When much is wrong," he writes, "much needs to be hidden." Examining this dark world for injustices, Schlosser reports that punishment is more severe in some states for selling marijuana than for killing with a gun. Anti-porn laws are equally nonsensical, and illegal immigrants work in conditions so wretched as to throw a shadow on the land of the free. Three magazine articles are roped together here, with a brief essay to start and another to finish. While this book lacks the artful unity of the author's bestselling FAST FOOD NATION, Schlosser's precise outrage is as compelling off as on the page. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Schlosser is the author of the best-selling Fast Food Nation (2001), which was a consciousness-raising examination of the fast-food industry. He now turns his reporting acumen to American underground economic activity, which, according to him, constitutes 9 to 10 percent of this country's economy--in other words, millions and millions of dollars that "cannot be accounted for." The black market in the U.S. "is where economic activities remain off the books, where they are unrecorded, unreported, and in violation of the law." The author focuses on three major black-market arenas: marijuana, the most widely used illegal drug in the U.S.; migrant workers in California, most of them illegal immigrants; and the pornography industry. Of course, woven into his account of this trio of black-market gold mines is also an examination of their effect on all of us, for the consequences are far reaching, from employing a child-care worker to downloading pornography off the Internet. His careful research and equally careful writing style contribute to a study that is certain to garner as much attention as his previous book. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
America"s black market is much larger than we realize, and it affects us all deeply, whether or not we smoke pot, rent a risqué video, or pay our kids" nannies in cash. In Reefer Madness the best-selling author of Fast Food Nation turns his exacting eye on the underbelly of the American marketplace and its far-reaching influence on our society. Exposing three American mainstays — pot, porn, and illegal immigrants — Eric Schlosser shows how the black market has burgeoned over the past several decades. He also draws compelling parallels between underground and overground: how tycoons and gangsters rise and fall, how new techonology shapes a market, how government intervention can reinvigorate black markets as well as mainstream ones, and how big business learns — and profits — from the underground. Reefer Madness is a powerful investigation that illuminates the shadow economy and the culture that casts that shadow.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser changed how we look at a hamburger with a scathing narrative that featured descriptions of hazardous butchering facilities and exploited minimum-wage workers. This latest book promises to do the same with the way we think about, if not use, marijuana, handpicked fruit, and pornography. In a series of essays, Schlosser examines the United States' underground economy, or black market, which in his estimate represents as much as 10 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. He illustrates how mandatory drug sentencing not only fails to diminish substance abuse but also results in nonviolent pot growers serving more time than killers. He depicts the hardscrabble existence of California's largely illegal immigrant strawberry pickers, some of whom sleep in caves just a few miles away from affluent homes. And he observes that some of the largest profits from the pornography go to the hotel-owning conglomerates that rake it in from in-room pay-per-view charges. As a whole, the collection comes off as a compendium of Schlosser's earlier magazine articles rushed into book form (indeed, much of the book was published originally in Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, and U.S. News & World Report), but it is an eye-opening read from an author who has the magical ability to make us think. Katherine Hottinger

FROM THE PUBLISHER

America's black market is much larger than we realize, and it affects us all deeply, whether or not we smoke pot, rent a risque video, or pay our kids' nannies in cash. In Reefer Madness, the best-selling author of Fast Food Nation turns his exacting eye on the underbelly of the American marketplace and its far-reaching influence on our society. Exposing three American mainstays -- pot, porn, and illegal immigrants -- Schlosser shows how the black market has burgeoned over the past several decades. He draws compelling parallels between underground and overground: how tycoons and gangsters rise and fall, how new technology shapes a market, how government intervention can reinvigorate black markets as well as mainstream ones, and how big business learns -- and profits -- from the underground. Reefer Madness is a powerful investigation that illuminates America's shadow economy and the culture that casts that shadow.

SYNOPSIS

In his latest book of investigative journalism, Schlosser author of Fast Food Nation) presents three central players of the American black market—pornography, pot, and illegal immigrants—based on research he carried out for articles in Rolling Stone and the Atlantic Monthly. Writing in terrifically engaging prose, Schlosser details the business practices, schemes, criminal records, lifestyles and/or victimization of those involved, and relates the history of each enterprise, the role played by the US war on drugs and the process of US immigration, and the impact on the nation of the underground economy. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Time Magazine

Schlosser isn't attacking the pot industry here; he's going after the institutional hypocrisies that force it underground while leaving far more damaging practices, like the abuse of migrant workers, to fester openly. What ties Reefer Madness together is Schlosser's passionate belief that America is deeply neurotic, a nation divided against itself into a sunny, whitewashed mainstream and a lusty, angry, deeply denied subconscious. He just might be the shrink America needs. — Lev Grossman

The New York Times

Schlosser's argument walks a difficult, winding path. Porn, he says, should be made legal across the board, and pot as well. Both actions would throw light upon the darkness of the black market and thus reduce America's gross national pretense of virtue. At the same time, though, he writes, ''All those who now consider themselves devotees of the market should take a good look at what is happening in California. Left to its own devices, the free market always seeks a work force that is hungry, desperate and cheap.'' Which is true enough. As Schlosser smartly notes: ''The sort of black market labor once narrowly confined to California agriculture is now widespread in meatpacking, construction and garment manufacturing. The growth of the underground has lowered wages, eliminated benefits and reduced job security in these industries.'' — Sam Difton

The Los Angeles Times

At its most compelling, Reefer Madness is a great, muckraking ride. There's no hype in Schlosser's prose. Instead, he lets a cascade of facts make his points. — Emily Bazelon

The Washington Post

Schlosser attacks this big theme with admirably thorough reporting and a refreshingly clear, no-nonsense writing style. — Philippe Bourgois

Publishers Weekly