So you want to know more about...

...corporate America.  Here are four books - now available in our library! - to get you started.

Innovate!:  How Great Companies Get Started in Terrible Times
True innovation isn't born solely in the best of times. How, then, is innovation achieved in the worst of times? What is real innovation?  This optimistic—and innovative!—book declares that terrible times, even the Great Depression, have been harnessed to create great things for the world and that the power of innovation will see our country through our current economic downturn.

Starbucked:  A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture
Author Taylor Clark provides an objective, meticulously reported look at the volatile issues like gentrification and fair trade that distress activists and coffee zealots alike. Through a cast of characters that includes coffee-wild hippies, business sharks, slackers, Hollywood trendsetters and more, Starbucked explores how America transformed into a nation of coffee gourmets in only a few years, how Starbucks manipulates psyches and social habits to snare loyal customers, and why many of the things we think we know about the coffee commodity chain are false.

The Toyota Way:  14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer
In factories around the world, Toyota consistently makes the highest-quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer, while using fewer man-hours, less on-hand inventory, and half the floor space of its competitors. The Toyota Way is the first book for a general audience that explains the management principles and business philosophy behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability.

The Wal-Mart Effect:  How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and How It's Transforming the American Economy
Author Charles Fishman shops at Wal-Mart and has obvious affection for its price-cutting, hard-nosed ethos. He also understands that the story of Wal-Mart is really the story of the transformation of the American economy over the past 20 years. He's careful to present the consumer benefits of Wal-Mart's staggering growth and to place Wal-Mart in the larger context of globalization and the rise of mega-corporations. But he also presents the case against Wal-Mart in arresting detail, and his carefully balanced approach only makes the downside of Wal-Mart's market dominance more vivid.