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A “funny, contemplative” memoir of working at Amazon in the early years, when it was a struggling online bookstore (San Francisco Chronicle).
In a book that Ian Frazier has called “a fascinating and sometimes hair-raising morality tale from deep inside the Internet boom,” James Marcus, hired by Amazon.com in 1996—when the company was so small his e-mail address could be james@amazon.com—looks back at the ecstatic rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable comeback of the consummate symbol of late 1990s America.
Observing “how it was to be in the right place (Seattle) at the right time (the ’90s)” (Chicago Reader), Marcus offers a ringside seat on everything from his first interview with Jeff Bezos to the company’s bizarre Nordic-style retreats, in “a clear-eyed, first-person account, rife with digressions on the larger cultural meaning throughout” (Henry Alford, Newsday).
“Marcus tells his story with wit and candor.” —Booklist, starred review
In a book that Ian Frazier has called “a fascinating and sometimes hair-raising morality tale from deep inside the Internet boom,” James Marcus, hired by Amazon.com in 1996—when the company was so small his e-mail address could be james@amazon.com—looks back at the ecstatic rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable comeback of the consummate symbol of late 1990s America.
Observing “how it was to be in the right place (Seattle) at the right time (the ’90s)” (Chicago Reader), Marcus offers a ringside seat on everything from his first interview with Jeff Bezos to the company’s bizarre Nordic-style retreats, in “a clear-eyed, first-person account, rife with digressions on the larger cultural meaning throughout” (Henry Alford, Newsday).
“Marcus tells his story with wit and candor.” —Booklist, starred review
Price: $15.95
Pages: 278
Publisher: The New Press
Imprint: The New Press
Publication Date:
01 November 2005
Trim Size: 8.20 X 5.50 in
ISBN: 9781595580245
Format: Paperback
"This book is far more important than just somebody's experience at Amazon. Amazonia really does convey the experience of the era."
—Henry Blodget, Former Wall Street Analyst Who Covered Amazon.com in the Late 1990s
"Funny, contemplative . . . a memoir that generates frequent smiles of recognition."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"Marcus is a graceful writer with an eye for detail."
—The Boston Globe
"Should win over even the most jaded dot-com vets with [its] swift, clever, and intelligent rendering of their history."
—Seattle Weekly
—Henry Blodget, Former Wall Street Analyst Who Covered Amazon.com in the Late 1990s
"Funny, contemplative . . . a memoir that generates frequent smiles of recognition."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"Marcus is a graceful writer with an eye for detail."
—The Boston Globe
"Should win over even the most jaded dot-com vets with [its] swift, clever, and intelligent rendering of their history."
—Seattle Weekly
James Marcus was employed as Senior Editor at Amazon.com from 1996 to 2001. An award-winning translator, he has written for the Atlantic Monthly, the Village Voice, the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post Book World, the New York Review of Books, Lingua Franca, and many other publications. He lives in New York City.