What The Rise Of Amazon Has To Do With The Rise Of Trump
Amazon was already an economic behemoth before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. But when many Americans ramped up their shopping from home, the company saw explosive growth. In short, ProPublica journalist Alec MacGillis writes in Fulfillment, its fortunes diverged from the nation's economic fortunes.
The book looks at the American economy through the lens of Amazon — the forces that made it, the trends it accelerated, and the inequality that he argues has resulted from the growth of Big Tech. The NPR Politics Podcast spoke to him about America's "winning" and "losing" cities, what Amazon has to do with former President Donald Trump's election and how much it matters when consumers decide to boycott huge companies like Amazon.
Fulfillment was the latest selection in the NPR Politics Podcast Book Club. Join in the book conversations at the podcast's Facebook group. The next discussion, in late June, will be about Elizabeth Hinton's America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s.
The following are excerpts from the full interview with MacGillis, with answers edited for clarity and length.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN: Your book isn't exactly what I was expecting. I sort of went into it thinking, "this is going to be a book that's, 'Amazon [is] bad —
