The Big Store

Mr. Katz relates an important historical passage, and does it well by liberally seasoning it with real people. There are winners and losers, and Katz allows them to "speak" to the reader along the way. Because we know what happened to Sears, (once America's unchallenged retail giant and a major force in the national economy, now delisted and floundering for new strategies), the story is all the more interesting. The struggle for Sears' future is a parable for the challenge that faces the American economy, i.e., centralization versus unfettered freedom. This is just plain good reading on its own, but especially invaluable if you are keen on business and economic history.

The Prologue of this book is riveting. It provides a tantilizing glimpse into the inbred corporate culture at Sears and about what is to come in this book... ...only the book is so dense and the story so ponderous that I couldn't finish it, or even get halfway through. Don't get me wrong, this is an excellent book, thoroughly researched and well-written. But the level of detail is more like that of a Ph.D. dissertation than a readable business history. There's just too much detail for the material at hand, and in the meantime the story is lost. However, this is great for those interested in Sears' history, or for those wishing to gain understanding about the changes taking place in retail business generally from the 1970's-1980's.

This is an excellent book if you are interested in the history of retail in this country. The history of Sears, Roebuck & Co. is a great story that I encourage everyone to read.