Reefer Madness : Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market

Rating:
Summary: Reefer Madness
Review: This book went to a new level of muckraking. Not only was it just as powerful as Fast Food Nation but it hit right at home. I believe more people can connect with Reefer madness from all ranges of age. I felt that as a teenager this book was more interesting on a personal level. How does this guy do it?

Rating:
Summary: average followup to Fast Food
Review: After finding "Fast Food Nation" an engrossing and captivating read, I was somewhat disappointed to find this collection of three essays to be average and unconnected. The marijuana and strawberry articles are definitely superior to the last third, which deals with the outlaw-to-industry history of porn. It's good writing overall, just not really worth buying in book form. This experience was analogous to my interest in the periodical "Mother Jones;" initial fascination due to some good research, followed by a gradual decay of interest due to predictably one-sided reporting. Hopefully, Schlosser will come back with his next book to prove himself more than the average liberal journalist (there's enough of those). Fast Food Nation was great, but it doesn't justify paying for this collection of B-sides at full price.

Rating:
Summary: One-sided arguments and author biases
Review: I was introduced to the writing of Eric Schlosser through his book Fast Food Nation. While FFN was a truly fascinating, entertaining, and enlightening look into the world of fast food and the industry's influence on American culture, Reefer Madness was the author's effort to train his skeptical journalistic skills on the American black market and its influence on our economy.

Unlike the book's predecessor, Reefer Madness reeked of the author's agenda. As Schlosser described case after case of the government's harsh prosecution of drug offenders (many of them first-timers), I got the impression that I was only being told half the story. There was an obvious point that Schlosser was trying to make, and I felt time and again that he was only reporting facts and anecdotes that supported his argument. I would like to have had the full stories, as reported from both prosecutors AND defendants, but the book comes up short in this regard.

Schlosser does do an excellent job of introducing us to three facets of the nation's black market economy: drugs, illegal (cheap) labor, and porn. He does a great job of bringing to light just how influential these facets are to our mainstream economy and daily lives. With regards to his fact finding efforts and presentation of little-known pieces of our society, Schlosser excels as usual. Unfortunately, the book is handicapped by the not-so-hidden agenda of its author and the one-sided arguments that are made on said agenda's behalf. All in all, a decent effort with some serious flaws.

Rating:
Summary: Drawing the Curtain
Review: This is the second Eric Schlosser book I've read and it met my high expectations. He is an amazing journalist and is bold with the topics and ideas he sheds light on. Reefer Madness puts the pieces together, and realistically portrays the abundance of underground economies and its effect on the free market. I found many of his judgments have been brought to my attention before, but finally it was laid out before my eyes with great evidence. Although at times I found it both repetitive and plentiful of facts, I still thought this was a great read, and helped open my eyes to the present challenges of the American economy.

Rating:
Summary: Not What the Book Sleeve Says it is
Review: This book does not live up to the standard Schlosser set in Fast Food Nation, which I read last year. Made up of three essays, one on Marijuana one on illegal immigrant labor, and one on the porn industry. The premise of the book is that Schlosser will describe the underground economy of which these three topics play a major role. But the essays actually tell nothing about economics and right away get into political topics on which Schlosser is not at all shy in stating is own preference. In each topic, Schlosser actually uses one or two case studies, but the overall point of these case studies is not at all clear.

By far, the most interesting topic is the porn industry, if only because this topic is just not covered much. Rather than an economic study, it should be relabeled a history of the porn industry. Even here, though, the material is not really a complete history, but rather a couple cases that Schlosser has followed up on, and the central topic is the government's war against porn producers. Schlosser's own reading is also uninspiring, but I think that is really just a result of material that is neither academically rigorous nor exciting or relevant as investigative reporting (which is what Schlosser is really aiming at).

Rating:
Summary: revealing
Review: I thought it pretty shocking to read about the huge growing of cannabis on the vast plains in central USA. In particular because US authorities do not make a real effort to fight it.

These are the same authorities who do not fail to criticize any other country that fights differently than she pretends to do herself.

In my native Holland we already have reached Eric Schlosser's conclusion a long time ago: legalize soft drugs. They are medically no more harmful than alcohol and tobacco, and by legalizing huge powers will be released to fight the real bad stuff: the heroine and the cocaine.


Rating:
Summary: Sampler
Review: Reefer Madness is a stepping off point to research Schlosser's issues further. Of the advertised 310 pages, only 220-230 or so are text. Highly detailed notes follow, with myriad sources and their synopsis, spurring the reader toward more in-depth material.

Schlosser covers three aspects of the black market: 1) Pornography, which is now absorbed into the legal big business (and hence acceptable) market. 2) Illegal drugs, that a majority of voters prefer some legalization of... so the tide may be turning from illicit to licit. 3) Illegal workers, who are either ignored or profitably used, and are almost surely to be with us as far as the eye can see.

The big theme of Reefer Madness is that our (democratic) government is, relating to Schlosser's 3 issues, wholly lacking in big-picture common sense. Instead, the government is guided by big money and morality plays fuelled by (perpetual) campaign speeches. And constituents are too self-absorbed, apathetic, or busily treading water to push for more humane policies. I know, that all sounds cliche. But Reefer Madness gets into details. Schlosser stripped away some of my necessary illusions about government... illusions I wasn't really aware of having in the first place. After Reefer Madness, you will likely be changed and wondering "What the heck is going on?!" And, as usual, Schlosser tells good stories of individuals while making his macro-points. A quick, solid read.


Rating:
Summary: Very good but should actually be 3 books
Review: A very good collection of 3 essays that each probably deserve a book of their own by this writer. The Strawberry Fields on Agriculture chapter in particular was the most interesting and insightful to me. It is discouraging and disappointing that people can go to jail for multi-year sentences for marijuana possesion and have longer terms than people convicted of assult

Strikes me that the easiest way to take on the undeground economy is to eliminate cash - make all transactions either stored value cards, credit cards, debit cards or cheque cards....