Rating: 
Summary: Ranges from enthralling to boring
Review: Schlosser, the author of the recently famous Fast Food Nation, follows up with another, though less than stellar, piece of social commentary. This time, however, he splices this shorter book into three different, partially related topics. One is about marijuana, the other is about migrant farm workers, and the last part is about the porn industry.All three sections explain the history, the social injustices, and the current state of those particular topics. With three different section, Schlosser fails to go in depth into some of the major issues. While not a flaw in itself, sometimes the information could have been more statistical or insightful. The first section is the best. He describes the continuing and perhaps fruitless effort of America's political system to stop the spread of weed. Though mostly anecdotal, he does open eyes to the unequal and baffling judicial and legislative steps to stop this so called problem. The second part of the book mainly concerns migrant strawberry workers from Mexico. Though informative, I think he fails to reveal why such a system continues to thrive. While describing their living conditions, there is little mention of the 'Not in my Backyard' movement,, and no mention of California's proposition 13. When he discusses there working conditions, he fails to fully explain the proposed guest worker program, nor does he provide statistics that could shed some more light on the subject. The last part, about the porn industry, is terrible. While most of the book is dedicated to high level issues and concerns, he basis this story on a porn distributor's legal dilemma in painfully boring detail. It seems like Schlosser really was obsessed with someone who wasn't that interesting. Schlosser goes into agonizing details - like literally giving the life story of the guy who eventually examined the porn distributor's taxes. This book is a quick read, but this leaves the impression of quick book of unrelated information tied together in order to capitalize on the buzz of the author's previous book.
Rating: 
Summary: Loose Collection of Essays
Review: Hot on the heels of his massive success with the superb "Fast Food Nation," author Eric Schlosser has filled in the gap between it and his next project with "Reefer Madness." The book purports to explore the American underground economy, and Schlosser's preface tries to link the book's three sections together using that theme, but it ultimately doesn't come together as a cohesive whole. The three individual topics (the criminalization of marijuana, the exploitation of migrant farmworkers and the rise of pornography as a major industry), however, are quite interesting. What's obvious is that Schlosser has reported on these subjects before and has merely updated them to be put into book form. The incidents he describes for the most part took place back in the 1990s, which makes them less than immediately topical. Nevertheless, like with "Fast Food Nation," the author has some strong views and isn't shy about sharing them. Schlosser is a refreshing breath of fresh air as a journalist in that he refuses to buy into the conventional wisdom and asks the kind of questions that rarely get asked in other forums. Overall, "Refer Madness" is a good stopgap for people who enjoy Schlosser's style. It made me look forward to his next project, which will explore the American prison system.
Rating: 
Summary: should be required reading
Review: This book is similar to his first one, Fast Food Nation, so I'll say basically the same thing I said about that one. If everyone had to read this book our country would be in better shape. This is an eye opening, life changing book that'll make you seriously question the policies and economics of our country. Read it and wake up!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Essays, But....
Review: Eric Schlosser's Reefer Madness has three interesting essays in it, but I can't quite figure out why the three are in this book together. In the introduction to the book, Schlosser says his intent is to expose the underground economy of the US for what it is. The first essay concerns marijuana and the ridiculous way it is handled in the US. Next, he focusses on the miserable lives of migrant strawberry pickers. Finally, he exposes the seedy underside of the American porn industry. All three essays are interesting and provocative--the marijuana chapter may be viewed by some as especially controversial. Schlosser's writing is well-researched and clear. But, the book just doesn't hang together as a cohesive whole, which I think it could if he had given it a couple more drafts--it almost seems that this book was rushed out before it was truly finished. Still--it is definitely worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: solid but disappoints after Fast Food Nation
Review: When looking at the title of Schlosser's newest work, one's first response has to be 'how did he manage to cover sex, drugs, and cheap labor all in a single book?'(some might even say he couldn't have covered their own personal experience with all in a single book). The answer, as one might have assumed, is simple'sketchily. A look at America's underground economy, the editing begins immediately with the decision to limit such an analysis to these three gargantuan topics'clearly there's a lot more going on in the shadow economy-- just ask the folks at RIAA.
Any one of these topics would have been enough for an entire book, so if Schlosser is to be criticized for skimming through the information (which he does), it's hard to see how, once the original decision for the book was made, he could have done otherwise. The look at cheap labor, for instance, is only a few dozen pages. The section on 'drugs' is really only focused on marijuana and the laws surrounding it, and even these are occasionally tossed out more as lists than in any sort of more reflective analysis. The section on pornography is longer, which might lead you to think it's more in depth, but just as with the drug section, Schlosser narrows his field and focuses more on a single pivotal figure in the development of pornography as a mainstream business. Its general history, modernization, feminization, incorporation, etc. are mentioned, but all too briefly. Finally, anyone who has read any recent lengthy article on any of these topics will probably not find much (beyond the individual figures themselves) new here. Even the context of the underground economy is not particularly original, as all three are oftentimes analyzed in just that context in their own right (how many articles on pot does one see that doesn't mention the estimated amount of money spent on growing or consuming it?). And that context is weakened somewhat by the section on pornography. After all, when The Greatest Hits of Nina Hartley is being distributed daily by AOL-Time-Warner or the Marriot and Larry Flint is running for governor of California, just how underground is this business?
That's the bad. The good, and there is a lot of it, is just what one would expect from the author of Fast Food Nation. The prose is highly readable and extremely lucid. The research is well-documented, effective, clearly explained, and (mostly) seamlessly interwoven into the stories. And the personal stories (a man sentenced to life for being a middle-man in a pot deal, the long-time attempt of the federal government to indict porn purveyor Reuban Sturman, along with others) lend a sense of humanity, realism, and intimacy to the discussion, which all too often remains on the abstract level in most analyses'so many people in prison, blah blah blah. Schlosser rifles off the statistics as well, but he grounds them in the stories of real people, and that is what makes this book at least somewhat effective, despite its sketchy nature.
Anyone coming to this from Fast Food Nation is probably bound to be disappointed and one wishes his publisher had convinced him (or agreed to allow him) to do a single book on each topic. Anyone not coming to it with preconceived high standards set by the author himself, and just looking for a readable, quick, informative look at each and any of these could do a lot worse.
Rating:
Summary: Disjointed
Review: It's really three separate books, or perhaps three magazine pieces. Each is an excellent piece of investigative journalism. He investigates the marihuana industry, migrant labor, and pornography, in each case using the stories of one or two individuals as a focus. There's a lot of gripping human interest, suspense-filled action, and crusading exposure of injustice.
He does have an unifying message, about the opressiveness of government, which is spelled out in a short afterword but really each piece stands alone and this affects readability. There are no cross-references between the three pieces. Taken individually each one is great. Advocates for marihuana legalisation will cheer through the first piece but yawn through the other two.If you're a First-Amendment-loving card-carrying ACLU member you'll enjoy the third piece best.
The other problem with constructing a book in this way is that each piece is too short to give full space to opposing viewpoints. If these had been articles in Atlantic Monthly or the New York Times we would have had an interesting extra dimension. Readers' letters would have come in, with corrections and counter-arguments, and Schlosser would have replied to them. We miss this in book form.
Rating:
Summary: The Underground U.S. Economy
Review: Drugs, pornography, and cheap immigrant labor are three areas of known controversy when it comes to the buying and selling of goods and the government's attempts to regulate these economic activities. Yet all three of these areas represent growing, thriving components of the national economy. This latest book by Eric Schlosser examines these three segments of the economy, and while it provides some good insight in some areas, it misses the mark in others. In the first chapter, the author talks about the fallacies and misleading information about marijuana and how the failed war on drugs has caused countless American tragedies while doing absolutely nothing to stop this very lucrative business from continuing to thrive underground. Many people have been unnecessarily searched; had their property seized under false pretenses; and sometimes have even been killed by the drug police. Schlosser correctly points out these many travesties of the drug war, and he concludes the chapter by stating that the only logical resolution to the problem to legalize the product and tax it. The chapters on the pornography industry and migrant workers are not quite as good, but they still have some good points to make. Schlosser talks about the frustration faced by illegal workers who want a job and often give in and work in the strawberry fields of California for very low wages. They have no recourse because they are here illegally. And with the pornography industry, Schlosser seems sympathetic to those who are prosecuted for engaging in consensual activity. However, in these two chapters, Schlosser isn't very clear on what should be done to solve the problems. After the chapter on immigrant workers, all Schlosser can do is blame the free market for the problem. The situation is, of course, much more complex than that. The real issue is what to do with migrant workers. If they had full rights and if employers were held accountable for their actions, there wouldn't be a free market problem. It almost seems like Schlosser just threw this in because he couldn't think of any other way to address the issue. With the pornography chapter, Schlosser correctly states that morals cannot and should not be legislated so he manages to provide a little more guidance than he does with the migrant workers problem, but he doesn't say much beyond that. To help give this book a more humanistic side, Schlosser speaks directly to some of the people involved in these underground markets and he includes direct quotes from many of them. This is a good idea, in my opinion, because it helps the reader gain a better understanding for what is going on and what the people involved are thinking as they involve themselves in these illegal activities. Black markets, while illegal and unethical, comprise a large part of the U.S. economy. There is very little that can be done to eliminate them completely. But we, as a nation, can make some moves that would minimize the negative impacts of these underground economies. "Reefer Madness" does a decent job in showing how much damage can result when business is forced to go into hiding and he does a fair job (although incomplete) in showing what can be done in some instances to lessen the impact of the black market. These activities will never disappear, but there are many things we can do to keep the problem from getting worse, as "Reefer Madness" correctly points out.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book, I enjoyed it.
Review: This book caters to a varity of differnt readers in several differnt ways. For example: If your looking for factual information on the history of any of the three industries this book covers them greatly and also gives rather detailed information in the examples used. On the other hand if you are the kind of reader who enjoys stories you will love reading about the actual happenings of the people involved in theese industries.
Rating:
Summary: Great essays, sub-par book
Review: I agree completely with the other reviewers who say that this book is disjointed and not cohesive. Although each essay, taken separately, is thought-provoking and well-research, the book as a whole does not explore the "black market" in a cohesive manner. The author makes good arguments in each of the essays. He points out the ridiculousness of an American drug policy that seeks higher sentences for marijuana growers than murderers. He argues that America's lenient enforcement of labor laws is affecting not only the illegal migrant farm workers, but the rest of our economy as well. He also illustrates the changing values and legislation relating to the pornography industry. What he doesn't do, however, is tie these things together. He has obviously included all of these issues as a way to compare them against one another. But the end product reads more like three separate pieces and less like true investigative reporting on the so-called underground economy. Although I enjoyed this book, it did not live up to my expectations after _Fast Food Nation_.
Rating:
Summary: average reading
Review: eric does a good job here of assemblying useful facts like the fact that 3 out of 4 100 dollar bills are used outside the US and explaining why this actually helps our economy. But, and this is a big BUT, the book is boring and not worth its enormous pricetag. Wow, thats a lot of money for three magazine articles which are only entertaining if you are really interested in the laws of sex, drugs, and black market labor. I found the section on immigration labor the most informative and the story of Reuben somebody to be the most entertaining, but ultimately I think mr. schlosser set out to write a book and then found out that the facts weren't so entertaining as you might think.
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