REEFER MADNESS AND OTHER TALES FROM THE AMERICAN UNDERGROUND

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 [Published: OCT/ NOV 03]