Chapter One: The author points to the end of huge military spending at the conclusion of the Cold War, but those military-related industries were replaced by entertainment revenue for those cities. The author also mentions instances where the economy had fallen flat in a given area, and some form of entertainment was introduced which not only bolstered the sagging economy, but provided jobs and spread the power of corporate-created entertainment throughout the land.

Chapter Two: while American's watch their personal savings dip into the red ink zone (2.1% of earnings), they are spending (or were, in 1999 when the book was published) 8.4% on entertainment. Wolf writes that Americans are all about going out to eat, gambling, buying video games and computers; and the new "shared community" is a chat room on AOL or going to a movie with friends.

Chapter Three: Show business has spread its influence into the mainstream American economy, as airlines, restauran

Chapter Five: Moguls rule the entertainment world; moguls like Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner created new networks; Bill Gates launched Windows 95 with an extravagantly huge entertainment campaign; Steve Case build AOL with "vision, tenacity, and high-stakes gambling." (p. 129). And yet all four of these wealthy power brokers in entertainment couldn't have succeeded without bringing in talented executives to carry out key missions.

Chapter Eight: Starbucks has used its successful brand-development to expand its retail offerings to "frozen drinks, juices, premium ice cream" (p. 252), and subsequent to the publication of this book, to music CDs and wireless Internet access for its customers.

Three Most Important Lessons Learned

Chapter Six: Moguls strive to create "hits" - which provide more than money, including "the cultural context in which people see themselves" (p. 157). Taking a hit to its ultimate impact creates a "phenomenon" (158-159) which "transforms the landscape," and fills a "niche." Examples of phenomena: Viagra, the Web, Star Wars, PalmPilot and cell phone technologies.

Chapter One: When the little strip malls (circa 1950s) became outdated and boring, new malls - like the Mall of America in Minnesota (page 10) - were built, featuring entertainment instead of just shopping opportunities. The Mall of American featured an aquarium, movies, an amusement park; many other malls followed suit, using entertainment as the magnet to draw people away from their boring TV programs and dull lives.

Chapter Nine: How advertisers get the strongest message out to the precise targeted audience has become a fine art. Competition is so keen, that advertisers are more inclined to use creative marketing campaigns than just spend big bucks.

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Approximate Word count = 1418
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)