Introduction -- Acknowledgments -- Part I. On the ground. The sharp, sudden decline of America's middle class / Jeff Tietz, Rolling Stone -- The great American foreclosure story : the struggle for justice and a place to call home / Paul Kiel, ProPublica -- Part II. Bad medicine. Bad to the bone : a medical horror story / Mina Kimes, Fortune -- Prescription for addiction / Thomas Catan, Devlin Barrett, and Timothy W. Martin, Wall Street Journal -- Anemia drugs made billions, but at what cost? / Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post -- Part III. Big business. Making the world's largest airline fly / Drake Bennett, Businessweek -- Gusher / Steve Coll, The New Yorker -- Part IV. Bad business. Vast Mexico bribery case hushed up by Wal-Mart after top-level struggle / David Barstow, New York Times -- Chesapeake and rival plotted to suppress land prices / Brian Grow, Joshua Schneyer, and Janet Roberts, Reuters -- Fear fans flames for chemical makers / Patricia Callahan and Sam Roe, Chicago Tribune -- Part V. Media and marketing. His. Hers. / Jessica Pressler, New York -- Top five ways Bleacher Report rules the world! / Joe Eskenazi, San Francisco Weekly -- Why India's newspaper industry is thriving / Ken Auletta, The New Yorker -- The frequent fliers who flew too much / Ken Bensinger, Los Angeles Times -- Part VI. Big think. Trade-offs between inequality, productivity, and employment / Steve Randy Waldman, Interfluidity -- The naked and the TED / Evgeny Morozov, The New Republic -- Part VII. Adventures in finance. Wall Street bonus withdrawal means trading Aspen for coupons / Max Abelson, Bloomberg -- The tale of a whale of a fail / Matt Levine, Dealbreaker -- Case against Bear and JPMorgan provides little cheer / Bethany McLean, Reuters -- How ECB chief outflanked German foe in fight for Euro / Brian Blackstone and Marcus Walker, Wall Street Journal -- from The trouble is the banks / edited by Mark Greif, Dayna Tortorici, Kathleen French, Emma Janaskie, and Nick Werle, n + 1 -- Please don't harass my father any further / Deena DeNaro -- My furnace guy / Joel Roache -- Thank you for my lessons / Anonymous -- How we're doing out here / Anonymous -- I didn't buy a house / Pamila Payne -- Why I am leaving Goldman Sachs / Greg Smith, New York Times -- Death takes a policy : how a lawyer exploited the fine print and found himself facing federal charges / Jake Bernstein, ProPublica -- Part VIII. Brave new world. How companies learn your secrets / Charles Duhigg, New York Times Magazine -- Glass works : how Corning created the ultrathin, ultrastrong material of the future / Bryan Gardiner, Wired -- Skilled work, without the worker / John Markoff, New York Times -- I was a warehouse wage slave / Mac McClelland, Mother Jones -- In China, human costs are built into an iPad / Charles Duhigg and David Barboza, New York Times -- How Apple and Amazon security flaws led to my EPIC hacking / Mat Honan, Wired -- Permissions -- List of contributors.

An anthology Malcolm Gladwell has called "riveting and indispensable," The Best Business Writing is a far-ranging survey of business's dynamic relationship with politics, culture, and life. This year's selections include John Markoff ( New York Times) on innovations in robot technology and the decline of the factory worker; Evgeny Morozov ( New Republic) on the questionable value of the popular TED conference series and the idea industry behind it; Paul Kiel ( ProPublica) on the ripple effects of the ongoing foreclosure crisis; and the infamous op-ed by Greg Smith, published in the New York Times, announcing his break with Goldman Sachs over its trading practices and corrupt corporate ethos. Jessica Pressler ( New York) delves into the personal and professional rivalry between Tory and Christopher Burch, former spouses now competing to dominate the fashion world. Peter Whoriskey ( Washington Post) exposes the human cost of promoting pharmaceuticals off-label. Charles Duhigg and David Barboza ( New York Times) investigate Apple's unethical labor practices in China. Max Abelson ( Bloomberg) reports on Wall Street's amusing reaction to the diminishing annual bonus. Mina Kimes ( Fortune) recounts the grisly story of a company's illegal testing -- and misuse -- of a medical device for profit, and Jeff Tietz ( Rolling Stone) composes one of the most poignant and comprehensive portraits of the financial crisis's dissolution of the American middle class.