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Marc Levinson
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The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America Paperback – December 9, 2019

by Marc Levinson (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 33 ratings
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  1. Print length
    398 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    December 9, 2019
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0578562103
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0578562100
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mr. Levinson has written an absorbing history of one company's amazing rise―and what such success means in a nation with conflicting ideals about big business. It is more than a rich business history; it is a mirror to our own conflicting wants and visions of who and what we should be." ―The New York Times

"A fascinating history." ―Steve Coll, The New York Review of Books

"More business books should be so gripping." ―The Wall Street Journal

"Levinson, who has burrowed deep in the archives, makes this story clear and compelling-and shows why A&P was both a boon to consumers and, in the words of an FDR-era federal prosecutor, 'a gigantic blood sucker.' Shades of Walmart?" ―The Atlantic

"Americans have always been ambivalent about big companies, as Marc Levinson shows" ―James Surowiecki, The New Yorker

"Marc Levinson's book The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America is a fascinating case story of one of twentieth-century America's largest and most successful corporations. Levinson's manuscript not only illuminates an important company and the men who ran it, but also documents the dramatic changes that occurred in one of America's most significant yet academically neglected industries--retailing. The story at its core is one of creative destruction." ―The Journal of Economic History

"[T]his is more than an economic story. It is a human story about a family that dedicated itself to making its business the best it could be--and how the death of the last member of that family was followed by A&P's decline into oblivion." ―Thomas Sowell

"[H]ighly accessible business history . . . Levinson has produced a valuable book . . . As a former editor for The Economist, furthermore, Levinson is particularly effective at translating challenging economic concepts into language that lay audiences . . . can grasp." ―The Journal of Economic Literature

"[A] superb business study and an entertaining read." ―The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

"The fleeting nature of success in business--even for companies that revolutionized their sectors--is among the many useful lessons of this book. A&P's legacy is apparent every time we set food in a modern grocery store, even if the company itself long ago fell victim to many of the forces it unleashed." ―The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA)

"Levinson makes it read like a novel . . . A great study of responding to the need to adapt to market and economic pressures to survive." ―Booklist

"Levinson has written a fascinating book on a critical chapter in American history that speaks directly to us today." ―BeyondChron (San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily)

"This is the kind of masterful business narrative that explains both the past and the present in an illuminating new light. Marc Levinson's highly insightful story of A&P--and its opponents--is essential reading for all those who seek to understand the love-hate relationship Americans have with the oversized consumer economy of our own day." ―Nelson Lichtenstein, author of The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business

"What a splendid book!...The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America shows that even the largest corporate goliaths are not immune to the insistent forces of competition and change. No one could have told this riveting tale better than Levinson--a historian, journalist, and economist--whose crisp and compelling writing makes the narrative's rich detail always run smoothly." ―Robert J. Samuelson, columnist for The Washington Post

About the Author

Marc Levinson is a former finance and economics editor of The Economist in London. He is the author of The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, which was short-listed for the 2006 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, and An Extraordinary Time: The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Marc Levinson; 2nd edition (December 9, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 398 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0578562103
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0578562100
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 33 ratings

About the author

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Marc Levinson

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Marc Levinson is an economist and historian specializing in business and finance. He was formerly finance and economics editor of The Economist, worked as an economist at a New York bank, and served as senior fellow for international business at the Council on Foreign Relations. For more information, check out his website at www.marclevinson.net.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
33 global ratings
5 star
54%
4 star
32%
3 star
7%
2 star
8%
1 star 0% (0%) 0%

Top reviews from the United States

ernieo
5.0 out of 5 stars Knowing the past helps to understand the present
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 23, 2021
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One person found this helpful
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Claudine Cheever
5.0 out of 5 stars So relevant today…
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 30, 2021
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2 people found this helpful
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Beacon
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book on the complexity of business progress.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 1, 2021
3 people found this helpful
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Constant Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Why isn't this required reading at Harvard Business School?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 29, 2020
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