From Publishers Weekly
Fortune magazine's "Most Admired Company" for two years running, Wal-Mart offers its customers low prices and its shareholders big profits, but as freelance journalist Featherstone (Students Against Sweatshops) argues, this comes at great cost. Wal-Mart's success is based not only on its inexpensive merchandise or its popularity (Featherstone cites working-class shoppers and Paris Hilton among Wal-Mart's fans) but on bad labor practices. Using a close investigation of the class action suit Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and extensive interviews with female workers, Featherstone indicts Wal-Mart for low wages, discriminatory policies and sexist practices. "[Our] district manager sometimes held lunch meetings at Hooters restaurants," one female employee explains; another recalls being asked to work "off the clock." Failure to post open positions, exclusively male social gatherings, pay discrimination, "persistent segregation of departments"—all are part, she argues, of Wal-Mart's deep-rooted culture of sexism. Many women employed full-time at Wal-Mart make so little that they are dependent on public assistance: "It is curious that Wal-Mart—the icon of American free enterprise and self-sufficiency...—turns out to be one of the biggest 'welfare queens' of our time," Featherstone writes. She doesn't give much time to related topics—racism, exploited overseas labor—but this is a clearly written and compelling book. It may not keep readers from their local Supercenters, but it should make them take a closer look at who's working the register. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Between 2000 and 2003, women workers at Wal-Mart stores across the country filed a class-action suit against the company for sex discrimination in promotions, pay, and job assignments. Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is potentially the largest class-action suit in history, representing 1.6 million past and present women employees. The bare statistics reveal that Wal-Mart is sorely behind the rest of the country in promoting women, but the suit must also show that discrimination occurred in individual cases. Featherstone's interviews with the plaintiffs reveal an entrenched good ol' boy network at the company, where highly qualified women are routinely passed over for promotions that are given to men with less experience. Even more blatant are the pay inequities that harken back to 1950s attitudes about the male being the head of the household. These are heartbreaking stories of loyal employees who remained fervent believers in Wal-Mart despite being ridiculed for wanting to succeed. Caught up in the cultlike corporate culture, they bought into the Wal-Mart propaganda about rural family values while the company feeds off the poorest, fails to provide a living wage, and fights unionization tooth and nail. Wal-Mart, whose unfair labor practices are lowering the bar for all workers, is already responding to high-profile press coverage. Featherstone's chronicling of the personal side of the story should draw even more attention to these crucial issues. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

The Washington Post, September 12, 2004
"[H]er rigorous reporting on the stories behind the lawsuit makes the book a must-read for Wal-Mart's friends and foes."

Laura Flanders, author of Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species
"Featherstone returns to the women of Wal-Mart what the corporation would steal: their humanity, their insight, their voice."

Naomi Klein, author of No Logo
"A devastating story, superbly told. This is a breakthrough book."

Andrew Ross, author of Low Pay, High Profile and No-Collar
"Featherstone's book is an important addition to the gathering arsenal of disgust that will bring Wal-Mart tumbling down."

Frances Fox Piven, author of The War at Home and Regulating the Poor
"A must read for an understanding of the new service economy and the risks it poses to the U.S."

Book Description
On television, Wal-Mart employees are smiling women delighted with their jobs. But reality is another story. In 2000, Betty Dukes, a 52-year-old black woman in Pittsburg, California, became the lead plaintiff in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, a class action representing 1.4 million women. In an explosive investigation of this historic lawsuit, journalist Liza Featherstone reveals how Wal-Mart, a self-styled "family-oriented," Christian company: Deprives women (but not men) of the training they need to advance Relegates women to lower-paying jobs, like selling baby clothes, reserving the more lucrative positions for men Inflicts punitive demotions on employees who object to discrimination Exploits Asian women in its sweatshops in Saipan, a U.S. commonwealth Featherstone reveals the creative solutions Wal-Mart workers around the country have found-like fighting for unions, living-wage ordinances, and childcare options. Selling Women Short combines the personal stories of these employees with superb investigative journalism to show why women who work low-wage jobs are getting a raw deal, and what they are doing about it.

About the Author
Liza Featherstone is a freelance journalist whose work has been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Rolling Stone, and the Washington Post, among other publications. She lives in New York City.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On television, Wal-Mart employees are smiling women delighted with their jobs. But reality is another story. In 2000, Betty Dukes, a 52-year-old black woman in Pittsburg, California, became the lead plaintiff in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, a class action representing 1.4 million women. In an explosive investigation of this historic lawsuit, journalist Liza Featherstone reveals how Wal-Mart, a self-styled "family-oriented," Christian company:

á Deprives women (but not men) of the training they need to advance

á Relegates women to lower-paying jobs, like selling baby clothes, reserving the more lucrative positions for men

á Inflicts punitive demotions on employees who object to discrimination

á Exploits Asian women in its sweatshops in Saipan, a U.S. commonwealth

Featherstone reveals the creative solutions Wal-Mart workers around the country have found-like fighting for unions, living-wage ordinances, and childcare options. Selling Women Short combines the personal stories of these employees with superb investigative journalism to show why women who work low-wage jobs are getting a raw deal, and what they are doing about it.

Author Biography: Liza Featherstone is a freelance journalist whose work has been featured in theNew York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Rolling Stone, and the {/IT}Washington Post{/IT}, among other publications. She lives in New York City.

FROM THE CRITICS

Washington Post

Her rigorous reporting on the stories behind the lawsuit makes the book a must-read for Wal-Mart's friends and foes.

Publishers Weekly

Fortune magazine's "Most Admired Company" for two years running, Wal-Mart offers its customers low prices and its shareholders big profits, but as freelance journalist Featherstone (Students Against Sweatshops) argues, this comes at great cost. Wal-Mart's success is based not only on its inexpensive merchandise or its popularity (Featherstone cites working-class shoppers and Paris Hilton among Wal-Mart's fans) but on bad labor practices. Using a close investigation of the class action suit Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and extensive interviews with female workers, Featherstone indicts Wal-Mart for low wages, discriminatory policies and sexist practices. "[Our] district manager sometimes held lunch meetings at Hooters restaurants," one female employee explains; another recalls being asked to work "off the clock." Failure to post open positions, exclusively male social gatherings, pay discrimination, "persistent segregation of departments"-all are part, she argues, of Wal-Mart's deep-rooted culture of sexism. Many women employed full-time at Wal-Mart make so little that they are dependent on public assistance: "It is curious that Wal-Mart-the icon of American free enterprise and self-sufficiency...-turns out to be one of the biggest `welfare queens' of our time," Featherstone writes. She doesn't give much time to related topics-racism, exploited overseas labor-but this is a clearly written and compelling book. It may not keep readers from their local Supercenters, but it should make them take a closer look at who's working the register. (Nov.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Selling Women Short is a bargain even Wal-Mart can't match... It offers an unprecedented glimpse into Wal-Mart's pseudo-Christian, ultra-macho, corporate culture. — (Barbara Ehrenreich, NYTimes Bestselling author of Nickel & Dimed)

A must read for an understanding of the new service economy and the risks it poses to the U.S. — (Frances Fox Piven, author of The War at Home and Regulating the Poor)

Featherstone's book is an important addition to the gathering arsenal of disgust that will bring Wal-Mart tumbling down. — (Andrew Ross, author of Low Pay, High Profile and No-Collar)

Featherstone returns to the women of Wal-Mart what the corporation would steal: their humanity, their insight, their voice. — (Laura Flanders, author of Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species)