The late great Sam Walton got his story out in the national bestseller Made in America, where Walton talks about his captivating life and inimitable business philosophy as the “Merchant King of the 20th Century”. The epitome of the American Dream, Walton tells his readers through Made in America about how he started as a management trainee in a J.C. Penney store in Des Moines, Iowa then worked his way up to becoming the creator of America’s largest chain of supermarkets.

Sam Walton, who in his youth was successful in almost every endeavor he undertook, wrote of his successes in a genuinely modest fashion. He humbly declared that his first attempts at building a store from the ground up was mostly on a trial and error basis. Walton recalls, “We didn’t have systems, we didn’t have ordering programs, we certainly didn’t have a basic merchandising assortment…in fact, when I look at it today, I realize that so much of what we did in the beginning was really poorly done.”

Sam Walton’s understanding of the workings of a post-war America, coupled with his acute observations of sociology and business, saves readers the time and effort involved in looking for other works on business and management.

One reader says that Wal-Mart is not merely a gigantic retail company. It is the ultimate retailing juggernaut. The reader describes the late Sam Walton as a prevailing driving force. He is still a source of homespun, country wisdom and old-fashioned common sense. Sam Walton was undeniably not only a giant in the world of business, he was also a charmer.

Made in America is a 368-page book published by Bantam Books in May of 1993. It is loaded with Sam Walton’s philosophy of life business, competition, partnership, money, celebrity, and family. The volume is available in mass market paperbound format.

Sam Walton’s daughter Alice Walton continues her father’s generous legacy as an active member of the Walton Family Foundation. Alice Walton is also the founder of the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas.

Here are some recent quotes found on this blog:

From Alice Walton,

“When we were growing up, dad was really very accepting. If you made A’s and B’s, Mother was the one who press us with, ‘I made all A’s and I know you can do it.’ Dad was more, well, ‘This is what I made. A’s and B’s are pretty good.’”

From Sam Walton of his descendants,

“I hope they’ll feel compelled to do something productive and useful and challenging with their lives.”