All the World's a Mall

Book excerpt: All the World's a Mall details a whirlwind world tour in five stops: Edmonton, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, and Casablanca, chosen because they are home to some of the biggest malls on the planet. Cities within cities, these malls are wonderlands where visitors come from afar to: walk, eat, sleep, watch, swim, ride, photograph, and, of course, shop. With a curious, critical, and sometimes ironic eye, Swiss journalist Rinny Gremaud recounts her travels to and through these monstrous spaces of excess, relaying her conversations with patrons, employees, and executives, and contemplating the effects of globalized commerce. Informative and thoughtful, exhilarating and exhausting, jet-lagged and always air conditioned, All the World's a Mall is a truly memorable, hallucinatory adventure.