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Sam Walton: The Inside Story Of America's Richest Man
This is a non fiction hardcover book an autobiography about the history of Wal Mart and Sam Walton. Great book for entrepreneurs, business men and women. This well-written Horatio Alger-like tale of 72-year-old, Arkansas-born Walton is refreshingly upbeat, in contrast to the life stories of some other contemporary entrepreneurs. Walton was a publicity-shy, multibillionaire businessman who was heads the Wal-Mart discount chain he founded in 1962. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Trimble, editor of the Kentucky Post , bases the biography on interviews with hundreds of ``associates,'' as their boss calls his employees, all testifying to the hard work, integrity, business acumen and common-touch gift for human relations to which they attribute his success. Walton was also a passionate quail hunter and tennis player, drove an old pickup and piloted his own Cessna.
319 pages, Hardcover
First published October 30, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 10, 2012
This is a very good biography about Sam Walton. From his humble and modest upbringing Sam Walton managed to build a retail empire through hard work and determination. Who would have guessed that Sam Walton was just an everyday ordinary guy?
June 17, 2019
The main people around Walton, and Walton himself, did not want to be interviewed, so the book is full of information taken from not very deep research by the author. He quotes articles in the Walmart corporate publications -- of course you're going to get corporate views. Disappointed.
February 25, 2020
Sam Walton started as a guy with an idea to sell lots of stuff that people would want at cheaper prices then anyone else. Apparently it was a good idea!
October 14, 2023
This is a very good back round to the founding and nationwide establishment of the Wal-Mart empire, written when the founder, Sam Walton was still alive.
Yes, this is a "Go-Go, Rah-Rah" telling of Sam's story, but it is the place to go to get his thinking and experiences.
It does not address the many subsequent problems and issues that arose in the Wal-Mart empire or it's negative impact through it's reliance on cheap imports, exploitation of workers, Huge environmental foot print, and it's crushing of small businesses along the way.
Those issues are widely. and best covered in other books.
Yes, this is a "Go-Go, Rah-Rah" telling of Sam's story, but it is the place to go to get his thinking and experiences.
It does not address the many subsequent problems and issues that arose in the Wal-Mart empire or it's negative impact through it's reliance on cheap imports, exploitation of workers, Huge environmental foot print, and it's crushing of small businesses along the way.
Those issues are widely. and best covered in other books.
August 17, 2019
I thought this was a good biography of Sam Walton and the rise of Wal-Mart. It is a little dated since it was written in 1990, for instance the Supercenter which is now everywhere was just starting to be built at the time it was published. He didn’t get the cooperation of the Walton family, though he did speak to Sam and several other family members briefly. This does free him up to cover some items which were not covered in Sam’s biography, Alice’s car accident where she struck and killed a woman a more in depth analysis of Ron Mayer’s brief time as CEO where Sam briefly “retired”.
October 7, 2018
The biographical tale of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart. A loving, caring, hard-working man with the sole purpose of wanting to provide value & convenience to the small-town consumer.
Enjoyed reading this book and learning a bit about Wal-Mart & Sam Walton. I believe this book provides a nice overview, however feel details were not necessarily shared with the writer at the time of his research.
Enjoyed reading this book and learning a bit about Wal-Mart & Sam Walton. I believe this book provides a nice overview, however feel details were not necessarily shared with the writer at the time of his research.
July 17, 2022
This is BY FAR the worst book I’ve ever attempted to read in my life!!! If you want to know a “few” little things about Sam and his family and LOTS AND LOTS of statistics about the towns where Walmart’s first opened then you may enjoy this book. I always finish my books but I literally cannot make myself finish this one. I’ve read halfway through but I’m just done! Life is too short!
July 14, 2024
Pros:
good investigations
Interesting to hear the history of a town ~35 years after this book was published
Cons:
Needs major editing— content in each chapter is so random and follows no consistent flow
Way too much detail about extremely unimportant facts
good investigations
Interesting to hear the history of a town ~35 years after this book was published
Cons:
Needs major editing— content in each chapter is so random and follows no consistent flow
Way too much detail about extremely unimportant facts
December 11, 2019
Booooooring. If Sam Walton didn’t have the help from his rich daddy-in-law, he wouldn’t be where he is today.
July 17, 2023
Pretty cool how regular of a guy he was.
January 18, 2017
The author states that Sam Walton was not available for him to run things off of (aside from one incident where Walton wanted him to have his facts straight. Hence, I do not feel I came away with a proper version of the man Sam Walton truly is.
Want to read
October 11, 2008After visiting Bentonville and the start of it all, I'm interested to learn more.
Read
August 3, 2011I still hate Wal-Mart, but don't think I would as much if Sam were still alive and running it. Or if they at least had continued his principles.
Read
September 20, 2017B WALTON
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews