With this study of the Neiman-Marcus flagship store and corporate headquarters in Dallas, Wiseman “has delved deeply and wisely into seemingly superficial subject matter and come up with a subtly informative—and incidentally entertaining—tract that will likely be of sociological importance for generations to come” (Arthur Unger, Christian Science Monitor). “Conspicuous consumption...seems to be having a renaissance today. And as Wiseman meanders up and down glitzy escalators lit up like a Busby Berkeley set, he finds precious few dissenters from Neiman-Marcus’s brand of theatrical salesmanship. Customers seem all too willing to accept a sales pitch that they must know is a sales pitch....A company executive explains to the staff that nothing that takes place in the store is not directed in some way toward making sales. Blunt but not surprising. Wiseman has revealed that we know the rules of this game—and play anyhow” (Karen Rosenberg, The Nation).