The discovery of things which we never knew before has undoubted value, but the discovery of that which we already know is much more exciting. This may seem to be a book about Marion, Ohio, and especially about her chain stores. That will hardly describe it. It is a book about human life in America and what the modern business developments are doing to it. It is a book about the reader and the reader's children and about what makes them get that way. It is a book about his marriage and what is happening to it, and about his wife and what is happening to her; also about his church and his religion and his hope for a life beyond. It is also a book about art and culture and patriotism and sex and sin.