Book Review: Big Box USA: The Environmental Impact of America’s Biggest Retail Stores

Big box stores have become one of the most popular places for shopping in the United States, particularly in the last several decades. The editors of this volume Big Box USA: The Environmental Impact of America’s Biggest Retail Stores provide several essays to examine how these very large retail stores have impacted the environmental landscape physically. Additionally, the last two essays address cultural aspects of these stores. Using the “tools of environmental history” (p.7) this book does not completely cover the topic, instead providing an opening with some examples. The editors state in the introduction this volume to be an invitation for further research and discussion. Focused on the environment or the consumer, the essays do not consider other aspects such as being an employee of a big box store, with one rare instance this is mentioned.