Award-winning journalist Charles Fishman reveals that what we know about Wal-Mart isn't even half of the real story-the company is now so powerful that it has become a kind of economic ecosystem that affects our everyday lives, even if we don't shop at Wal-Mart. In contrast to recent polemics, The Wal-Mart Effect offers the first truly fair, thought provoking look at the hidden reach and transformative power that is "the Wal-Mart effect."