The overwhelming impact of the world's largest company，due to its relentless pursuit of low prices，Wal-Mart is not only the world's largest company; it is also the largest company in the history of the world.Is the company a good thing or a bad thing? On that, market guru Warren Buffett estimates that the company's low prices save American consumers $10 billion a year. Though 70 per cent of Americans now live within a great drive of a Wal-Mart store, we have not even begun to understand the true power of the company and the many ways it is shaping American life. We know about the lawsuits and the labour protests, but what we don't know is how profoundly the"Wal-Mart effect" is shaping our lives. Fast Company senior editor Fishman, whose revelatory cover story on Wal-Mart generated the strongest reader responsein the history of the magazine, takes us on an unprecedented behind-the-scenes investigative expedition deep inside the many worlds of Wal-Mart.