A Nation of Salesmen: The Tyranny of the Market and the Subversion of Culture

I enjoyed reading the book. Earl Shorris has the courage and insight to expose the salesman in us all. I find his line on page 268--"To do this (selling) successfully the saleman has to follow the disciplines of his calling: Primarily, he cannot make judgements"--a key point in his book. Although I think it is too harsh to call a salesman a "serpent", I agree with the author that if all we do is just to sell without regard to how we truly feel about what it is that we are selling, we will be living a lonely and meaningless life.

Written just before the Web was spun, this book is an apologia for a life in sales, arguing that our politics and culture is manipulated by salesmen for short term profit. Along the way there are many interesting insights you may disagree with, but you'll have to chew on.