After she and her family spent one year not buying any products from China, the author offers revealing insights into the complex relationship between the American standard of living and the numerous Chinese imports that are necessary to maintain it.

Profiling malls as intersections of American consumer marketing, the media, and street culture, an examination of malls as reflections of commercial and social culture considers what malls mean to ordinary people.

"[A] fascinating look at one of the greatest social maladies of our time: overconsumption and materialism. Hosted by National Public Radio's Scott Simon, the program explores both the comical and sobering aspects of our consumerism and its enormous impact on families, communities and the environment. With the help of historians and archival film, Affluenza reveals the forces that have dramatically transformed us from a nation that prizes thriftiness...