Books
While we've been living unchained in America, we've been reading a lot of books about consumerism, chains, food, and other subjects related to the unchained lifestyle. We thought you might enjoy reading them, too.
We're affiliates with IndieBound, which is an association of independent, local, community-based booksellers. By purchasing books through IndieBound, you can buy from local bookstores near you and keep your money in your community.
Independent stores help your community. They create higher paying jobs than chains and pay more in taxes than chains so that more tax money reinvested in your community. Buying locally also creates a smaller carbon footprint. Independent store owners are your friends who donate twice as much to charities than chains and who provide more diversity of goods than chains.
And what better way to declare yourself unchained than by supporting your community, buying locally, and refusing to send your money to the corporate headquarters of chains such as Amazon.com, WalMart, Barnes & Noble, and Target.
Ehrenreich, Barbara, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America -- 
To see if she could survive on the wages paid by chains, Ehrenreich went undercover and joined the ranks of the low-wage earners. She worked as a waitress at a "family restaurant" attached to a discount chain hotel, a cleaner at Merry Maids, and a sales associate at WalMart. Her experiences add up to a strong indictment of how chains and fast-food restaurants treat their "disposable" workers.
Leach, William, Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture -- 
This is an incredible book! Leach traces the rise of our consumer culture from 1890 and shows how advertisers and PR meisters -- and even the government -- got involved. Leach explains the origins of everyday things in our consumer society. For example, why do stores have plate glass windows? To tempt us to buy things. Why do we bath every day? So soap companies can sell more soap. He also has an interesting section on Edward L. Bernays, the so-called "Father of Spin, " and describes some of Bernays' PR campaigns, including his campaign that persuaded women to start smoking cigarettes.
Mitchell, Stacy, Big-Box Swindle -- Mitchell writes a critical, 
well-documented assessment of how big-box chains have devestated the middle class and local economies. But she also describes how individuals and communities are fighting back, revitalizing their downtowns, and returning to their pre-World War II roles as citizens instead of consumers. The book permanently altered Dan's perception of chains. Mitchell, by the way, is chair of the American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA).
Brenner, Joël Stenn, The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars -- 
Brenner paints contrasting pictures of Forrest Mars, Sr. and Milton Hershey. Mars, who was ruthless and tyrannical, strove to create a candy empire. Mars also was tight fisted -- so tight fisted, in fact, that he never let his three children taste an M&M until they were in their twenties because he couldn't spare any of the candy. Hershey strove to create both a utopia and an industrial paradise.
Brenner also describes the bitter wars the arch rival candy companies fought to dominate the American candy market. In addition, she shows how Mars' three children -- Forrest, Jr., John, and Jacqueline -- got involved in the family business and kept it going. The book is quite revealing in its depiction of the Mars family. After reading it, you'll never think the same about a Snickers or M&M.
Pollan, Michael, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto -- 
A follow-up to his hugely successful Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan argues that the food we eat today isn't really food -- and that we don't really eat it. He urges us to eat in a more healthy way: "Eat food. Not too much. And mostly plants."
Pollan, Michael, Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals -- 
Pollan describes the four ways we get our food in America. The first way is through industrialized food, which we get at grocery stores. He also explains how corn became a key ingredient in just about everything we eat. The second way is through industrial organic food -- organic food that's grown esentially the same way as nonorganic industrial food. The third way is thorugh what Dan calls "real" organic food. And the fourth way is by hunting the food yourself. The parts about industrialized food and industrialized organic food are real eye openers! They made us rethink how we buy our food.
Smith, Jeffrey M., Seeds of Deception -- 
Smith describes how Monsanto and other companies colluded with the FDA and the EPA to put genetically modified food into our food system. Most of the genetically modified food was untested. The few tests that were performed indicated that eating the food would harm people, both the chemical companies and the government suppressed that information and persecuted the people who tried to inform the public about it.
Schlosser, Eric, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal -- 
Schlosser explains how fast-food chains such as McDonald's changed what we eat and how we eat. He describes how the animals that are used to make fast food such as Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets are raised, killed, and processed, and how a great deal of the fast food is actually artificial. He also examines how American fast food is spreading across the world. If you want to know what's really in the Big Mac you just ate, this is the book to read. (Or you might have greater peace of mind if you didn't read it!)
