Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America

by Bridget Read

A groundbreaking work of history and reportage that unveils the stranger-than-fiction world of multilevel marketing, from the shadowy cabals at the top to the strivers at the bottom, whose deferred dreams churn a massive money-making scam that has remade American society.

Multilevel marketing companies like Amway, Mary Kay, and Herbalife advertise the ultimate business opportunity: the chance to be your own boss. In exchange for peddling their wares, they offer a world of pink Cadillacs, white-columned mansions, tropical vacations, and—most precious of all—financial freedom. If, that is, you’re willing to shell out for expensive products, recruit everyone you know to buy them, and make them recruit everyone they know to do the same—thus creating the “multiple levels” of multilevel marketing, or MLM.

Despite overwhelming evidence that multilevel marketing causes most of its participants to lose their money, and that many MLM companies are pyramid schemes, the industry’s dubious origins, inextricably tied to well-known ideological figures like Ronald Reagan, have escaped public scrutiny. Behind the scenes of American life, MLM has slithered in the wake of every economic crisis of the last century, from the Depression to the pandemic, ensnaring laid-off workers, stay-at-home moms, teachers, nurses—anyone who has been left behind by inequality.

In Little Bosses Everywhere, journalist Bridget Read tells the gripping story of multilevel marketing in full for the first time, winding from sunny post-war California, where a failed salesman started a vitamin business, through the suburbs of Michigan and North Carolina, where MLM bought its political protection, to the stadium-sized conventions where top sellers today preach to die-hard recruits. MLM has been endorsed by multiple American presidents, has its own Congressional caucus, and enriched powerful people, like the DeVos and Van Andel families, Warren Buffet, and Donald Trump. Along the way, Read delves into the heartbreaking stories of those enmeshed in the majority-female industry: a veteran in Florida searching for healing; a young mom in Texas struggling to feed her children; a waitress scraping by in Brooklyn.

A wild trip down an endless rabbit hole of greed and exploitation, Little Bosses Everywhere exposes multilevel marketing as American capitalism’s stealthiest PR campaign: a cunning right-wing political project that has shaped nearly everything about how we live.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Business, Politics, Economics, True Crime

368 pages, Hardcover

First published May 6, 2025

About the author

Bridget Read is a features writer at New York magazine. Previously, she wrote for The Cut and was a culture writer at Vogue. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Jillian B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m fascinated by MLMs and have read several books about this scammy industry, and I have to say, this one is the most deeply reported that I’ve come across. The author must have poured a ton of research hours into this sweeping exploration of the MLM world, which traces the industry back to its roots and follows its evolution into its current form.

I found the history of how laws around MLMs were shaped by lobbying to be super fascinating. We also get a peek into the lies MLM founders and promoters have spread over the years, like Mary Kay Ash’s mostly fabricated roots as a struggling single mom. The saddest parts are the stories of MLM victims, but at the same time it’s fascinating to see how even those at the hardest-to-reach levels of these pyramids pull in very little money.

If you’re hungry for a deep dive into one of the sketchiest industries out there, this book will not disappoint.

Thank you to the publisher for giving me free access to an e-ARC of this book!

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book scratched my anti-MLM itch in a big way. The author gave a fascinating account of the history of multilevel marketing companies in America (sometimes called network marketing or direct selling), and exposes how scammy and toxic they can be.

I've been consuming anti-MLM content for about a year now (shout out to Hannah Alonzo for getting me hooked), but this book was so well-researched that it made me even more interested in the topic. One section that really resonated with me was about MLM's longtime focus on personal development and mindset, and how the companies promoted certain self-help books, such as "Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale, and "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. Because a pyramid scheme only benefits the people at the top*, the founders had figured out how to blame everyone at the bottom for not being successful: if you lost money it meant you didn't work hard enough, or you hadn't clearly visualized your success, or you were guilty of stinkin' thinking, etc. All of that victim-blaming still happens in MLMs today, and the same self-help books are still being promoted.

*A commonly cited statistic is that more than 99% of people who join an MLM will lose money, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Another fascinating, albeit depressing, section was on the connection between MLM companies and Republican politicians in America, going back to Dwight Eisenhower and all the way up to Donald Trump. The decades of political courtship and contributions seem to have helped a number of MLMs avoid being shut down as an illegal pyramid scheme.

Even though MLM companies continue to spread — when one fails, the people at the top of the pyramid often join or create another MLM, like a virus jumping to another host — and even though the Grifter in Chief DJT is unlikely to regulate any such schemes during his administration, I am optimistic that the anti-MLM community seems to be growing and awareness of these kinds of scams is gaining traction. If MLMs can't recruit new people, the pyramids will collapse, hopefully never to rise again.

[Brandice · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Little Bosses Everywhere, Bridget Read explores the world of MLMs, also known as pyramid schemes. As most of us know by now, for those involved in MLMs, the “success” is not in selling products, but in recruiting others to join. Regardless of which MLM, consultants more often than not lose money as they continue purchasing products, often to hit their minimum requirements.

Read explores Amway, Mary Kay, and Herbalife among others. She shares history regarding many of the companies’ founders and that new MLMs have often been formed by consultants leaving one to create their own. MLMs flaunt their founders’ wealth and promote messages of working hard to achieve success and financial freedom, while the organizations are engaging in predatory practices.

I’ve read a few other books about MLMs and enjoyed Little Bosses Everywhere though I preferred the narrative portions over the presentation of facts. I appreciated the background info and it’s clear Read did extensive research, I just found the narrative examples more compelling.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m facing an unresolved Goldilocks dilemma when it comes to MLM books: they are either too soft or too hard. I haven’t quite found my just-right. Either way, I’d recommend erring on the side of too hard, and if you agree, this is your book. I love a business history, especially a corrupt business history, and you’ll see many in my Read list. I can handle the nuts and bolts of some of the business/policy/legal analysis content required to tell these stories. But good lord, I’m not proud to admit it, but did I ever find this book dry. It’s as thoroughly researched and as play-by-play detailed as you could ever want, but especially after the first few chapters, I found it incredibly boring and remote, like a recitation of facts. I was in no way swept up into a suspenseful narrative as I have been with similar book projects. That being said, the author clearly did an amazing job researching the topic and left no stone unturned. If you want to know everything about the rise and fall of MLMs from a more regulatory angle, look no further, but the human connection and social context were somehow missing for me here.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75
Absolutely loved this exploration into the history of MLMs and how it’s closely tied to conservative (now alt-right) politics in the past and today.

The reason why it’s not a 5 star for me is that I wish there was some kind of conclusion at the end wrapping it all together, but I think that this is a fantastic piece of journalism that I hope many read.

[CatReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Little Bosses Everywhere, writer Bridget Read dives into the long history of American multilevel marketing operations (essentially, pyramid schemes), and their various iterations over the years. This is one of those niche topics that's bubbled to the surface of popular interest in the last decade, from John Oliver's biting takedown in 2016, to the anti-MLM subreddit (which Read also used to source interviews), to the dozens of Youtube documentary channels that specialize in exposing MLMs (I'll link to this video by Not the Good Girl, where she talks about the MLM she was in for years). So I presume most readers who pick up Little Bosses Everywhere are already familiar with some or all of this content. Read's intent here isn't sharing salacious stories (though she does share a few, particularly an extended story from a former MLM participant named Monique who lost tens of thousands during her Mary Kay years), but in digging into the complex history of American MLM schemes dating back a century and why and how the US government has never totally slapped them down, despite the rises and falls of various administrations.

I would also mention this book is very politically slanted, as is the MLM industry (in ways casual followers would likely guess correctly -- many MLM power players are Republicans and/or Evangelicals, and many MLM critics are pro-regulatory like many Democrats). One pervasive argument I took issue with is Read's criticism of the prosperity gospel and positive thinking as inherently problematic tools used by MLMs -- I would argue that these tools aren't inherently problematic or exclusive to MLMs (they are also heavily utilized by Evangelical religions and business/entrepreneurial literature, respectively -- with the latter not just being espoused Tony Robbins and not really by Robert Kiyasaki as Read alludes to, but by the likes of the Zig Ziglars and Brian Tracys of the world and all their subsequent successors who continue to churn out today's productivity literature). This is a recapitulated argument frequently made by those on the political left as a way to villainize the political right, and I find it lazy and usually presented without enough nuance. People don't really fall victims to MLMs because of the weaponization of the prosperity gospel or positive psychology by MLM leadership, as much as they fall victim to a lack of critical thinking skills, due diligence, reality-checking, and/or an inability to discern healthy vs. unhealthy relationships and untangle themselves from the latter.

Further reading: MLMs
Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson | my review - a sensationalized memoir from a former MLM participant
Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans by Jane Marie | my review - another MLM book, but focused more on recent examples and less on a broader sociopolitical narrative

My statistics:
Book 151 for 2025
Book 2077 cumulatively

[Angela DeMott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book completely outraged me, and took over my life this week, much like how victims of MLMs are consumed by false hopes of getting rich through “hard-work” and their own industry. Before reading Little Bosses Everywhere I thought I knew why MLMs were bad, but I was clueless. This book was eye opening to me - I did not know how intertwined most MLMs are with the ultra conservative political movement here in the U.S. or that they have been buying major political influence for the last 75 years. It’s enough to keep you awake at night.

I thought Read did an excellent job balancing the large and small scale harm MLMs cause in the world through her many stats and figures, but also through extremely humanizing case studies. The book breaks down a few sub-industries within MLMs (vitamins, soap, essential oils, makeup, self-help, etc.) and follows the history of MLMs through those industries. Those chapters are broken up by the first hand account of one victim who got sucked into being a Mary Kay distributor for almost a decade, making no money, feeling no success, and sinking tens of thousands of dollars she didn’t have into her “business.” These chapters are sickening and riveting.

Read makes the convincing argument that there is no distinction between the fraudulent pyramid schemes of the 30s and 40s and multi-level marketing companies of today. The only difference is that the FTC and SEC have been unable to crack down on most MLMs, because of loop holes in the law and elected lawmakers being bought and sold by MLMs for this very purpose. There are no good and bad apples - the whole barrel is rotten, and we as consumers need to be wary of this “business model” that benefits less than 1% at the top of the pyramid and destroys almost everyone else underneath.

[Merili · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book on the history of mlms, they’re the worst. However the book itself was a little dry and I wish it had more personal stories from ppl in mlms because those are so interesting too.

[Seamus Egan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Went into this book thinking "surely China in the 1920s won't be relevant" but it was in fact relevant.

[Taylor Hern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great history of the predatory practices of MLMs. A very great book if you’re trying to read more nonfiction like I am. Bought this after listening to an episode of the podcast Trueanon that featured the author, which I also highly recommend!

[The Bookish Elf · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Little Bosses Everywhere, journalist Bridget Read dives deep into the world of multilevel marketing (MLM), not as an abstract economic curiosity, but as a cultural, political, and emotional force that has reshaped American life. At once historical reportage and a sociological reckoning, the book is a tour de force through a uniquely American phenomenon that is less about selling makeup, vitamins, or essential oils—and more about selling hope in the shadow of economic precarity.

Read’s sharp, immersive prose pulls readers through the story of how MLMs like Amway, Mary Kay, Herbalife, and hundreds of others became embedded in the fabric of American capitalism. Far from being just quirky entrepreneurial experiments, she argues, these organizations have consistently exploited the vulnerable, propped up regressive politics, and traded on the language of empowerment to mask financial manipulation.

This isn’t just a history book—it’s a reckoning. And it's brilliant.

Unmasking the “Business Opportunity” Myth

MLM as Ideology, Not Just Industry

Read’s central argument is devastating in its clarity: MLMs have been masquerading as business opportunities while functioning more as ideological machines. Framed as “low-risk” entrepreneurial paths especially for women, they promise empowerment but deliver something closer to economic servitude.

From Mary Kay’s pink utopias to the starched-suited grandeur of Amway conventions, MLMs promote the myth of the self-made boss. But behind every pink Cadillac is a mountain of unsold inventory, a credit card maxed out in hope, and a dream deferred. Read pulls back the curtain to reveal that for most, these schemes offer not financial independence, but deeper financial entanglement.

Structure and Scope: History With Teeth

The book is divided into six thematic parts—Vitamins, Cosmetics, Soap, Hope, Health, and Freedom—that mirror both the evolution of MLM product offerings and their shifting ideological strategies. Read builds a meticulous timeline from the origin story of Nutrilite and Amway in post-war America to the pandemic-era resurgence of social-media-fueled recruitment.

Each section combines:

- Historical excavation: Through exhaustive research, Read traces the industry’s links to Cold War-era conservatism, free-market ideology, and evangelical Christianity.

- Character-driven reportage: We meet real women—veterans, teachers, mothers—who sought refuge and ended up trapped in the false promise of MLMs.

- Cultural critique: She expertly analyzes how MLMs reflect and manipulate American values like self-reliance, freedom, and femininity.

Rather than merely presenting the facts, Read interrogates the cultural scaffolding that keeps MLMs alive: capitalism’s deepest fables, from bootstraps to boundless opportunity.

Portraits of Hope and Harm: The Human Cost

Monique’s Story: A Heartbreaking Blueprint

One of the most haunting threads of the book is Monique—a military veteran from Florida who joins Mary Kay out of desperation and optimism. Read does not sensationalize Monique’s experience; instead, she writes with an empathetic gaze, allowing Monique’s initial hope and eventual disillusionment to unfold with quiet tragedy.

Monique’s journey encapsulates the MLM cycle: the seductive rituals of feminine success, the pseudo-sisterhood of the “Pink Cadi Shack,” and the painful aftermath of debt and identity loss. Her experience is not anecdotal—it is the template. And Read makes that chillingly clear.

Other stories echo this rhythm, underscoring how MLMs prey on those at the crossroads of vulnerability and ambition. The result is a portrait not of isolated failure, but systemic exploitation.

The Language of Power: Read’s Writing Style

Bridget Read’s prose is like a slow, searing unraveling of a carefully woven lie. She writes with the precision of a researcher, the rhythm of a storyteller, and the moral clarity of an investigative journalist who knows she’s poking at something deliberately obscured.

Her sentences often pulse with irony, allowing the reader to see the absurdities without the need for heavy-handed editorializing. Her metaphors are quietly brutal (“pink cardboard cities” of unsold inventory), and her structure mimics the fractal nature of MLM itself: a story that circles back, recruits new evidence, and climbs the pyramid of its own making.

It’s also notable that Read adapts the tone of her subjects—channeling their fervor, hope, and devastation—without appropriating or belittling their voices. This human-centered narration makes the critique land harder. The reader isn’t asked to scoff at those “fooled” by MLMs, but to understand how the game was rigged long before they ever joined.

Themes: Capitalism, Femininity, and American Mythology

1. Capitalism’s Cruel Optimism - Little Bosses Everywhere demonstrates how MLMs thrive in moments of economic crisis, selling a perverse form of optimism that thrives on inequality. These companies expand not despite hardship—but because of it. Recession, pandemic, job loss—each becomes fertile ground.

2. Femininity as Labor - Read is particularly sharp in her critique of how MLMs repackage gender roles as empowerment. The “boss babe” is a rebranded housewife, still tasked with invisible labor, now also expected to monetize it through constant self-promotion.

3. Religion and Ritual - MLMs aren’t just businesses—they’re belief systems. Read traces how Christian language and metaphysical sales pitches blend into sermons of salvation via commission. Prayer circles at sales events and spiritualized marketing slogans reveal MLM as cult-adjacent.

4. Policy and Power - The DeVos and Van Andel dynasties—co-founders of Amway—aren’t just figureheads. Read carefully reveals how these families and their lobbying efforts protected the industry through political influence, particularly within the Republican Party. She connects the dots between MLM success and deregulation, charting how these companies helped finance—and benefit from—a shrinking social safety net.

What Works So Well

- Immersive, people-first reporting: The individual stories elevate the broader critique. They’re never tokenized or reduced to data points.

- Rigorous research: Read draws from a broad range of sources—court documents, historical texts, government reports—without ever overwhelming the reader.

- Narrative clarity: The book’s pacing and structure keep the reader engaged across a dense, decades-long history.

- Cultural resonance: MLM is often treated as kitschy or comedic in media. Read shows how urgent and dangerous it really is.

Where It Falters

Despite the book’s many strengths, a few critiques must be noted:

1. Occasional narrative sprawl - Some chapters—especially those diving deep into historical figures or MLM technicalities—risk losing the narrative thread. A more concise edit in places might have helped the pace.

2. Limited global context - While the book briefly mentions MLM’s international reach, it remains overwhelmingly focused on the American experience. Given the global scale of companies like Herbalife and Amway, more international reporting could have broadened the critique.

3. Few success stories - While statistically rare, some MLM participants do succeed. The absence of even a single in-depth success profile could be seen as slightly skewed, although one could argue that such stories are already overrepresented in corporate propaganda.

Final Thoughts: A Conspiracy in Plain Sight

Little Bosses Everywhere is not a light read—but it is an important one. In exposing the underbelly of multilevel marketing, Bridget Read doesn’t just tell the story of a shady industry; she tells the story of modern American desperation, wrapped in pink bows and vision boards.

With clarity, care, and cutting insight, she repositions MLM from the margins of mockery to the center of a cultural and economic reckoning. This is the rare nonfiction book that not only informs, but also compels readers to re-examine how we talk about work, worth, and freedom.

A Note on Receiving This Book

In the ever-glossy, algorithm-filtered world of publishing, it’s rare to be handed a book that actively peels back the curated layers of our society’s illusions. Receiving an Advance Reader’s Copy of Little Bosses Everywhere felt like being handed a mirror smuggled out from behind a velvet MLM curtain. I did not just read it—I sat with it, argued with it, traced its meticulous footnotes, and emerged disoriented and enraged, in the best way.

This review, written in exchange for nothing but the promise of honesty, is my small act of gratitude—and truth-telling.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

God, why is Reagan always at the scene of the crime?

When I started listening to this book I thought it would be an easy, interesting read and that it would tell me a lot of what I already knew. I was so wrong!

The subtitle is not a gimmicky grab for your attention— this is basically a history book. I did not think MLMs could be more insidious than I already thought. There’s so much political history behind MLMs that I had no idea about. There’s not much about Utah unfortunately, but there’s a LOT about Amway.

This is an excellent work of journalism, albeit a bit tedious.

[David W. Cofer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enlightening book about the Multi-Level Marketing business, aka Pyramid Scheme businesses. The book includes stories about all the big players, Mary Kay, Amway, Herbalife, Shaklee, Tupperware, Nuskin, and Nutrilite.

Throughout the book, the story of Monique (not her real name) is chronicled and details revealed of how she was brought into the Mary Kay "family" and ended up spending over $75,000 over a nine year period, and never made more than $5,000 in sales, most of which was inventory she purchased herself in order to pursue higher ranks in the company, product that she never sold, but sat in an extra bedroom.

There are a lot of mind numbing statistics in the book, such as 85% of Mary Kay beauty consultants in Canada earned zero dollars in commissions in 2022, 13% averaged only $208 for the entire year, all before expenses. Even the Sales Directors (about 2% of the Mary Kay family) only made $20,907 on average.

In 2016, the majority of Herbalife dealers made no money after expenses and a substantial percentage lost money.

The book paints both a realistic and dire picture of the MLM industry. Only those at the top, usually the founders, make all the money (millions of dollars), which the rank and file lose tons of money. Most end up with a garage or spare bedroom full of unsold product. These companies place more emphasis on recruiting other members than on actually selling the product. That is the mark of a pyramid scheme, aka a Ponzi scheme.

Amway is probably the biggest offender detailed in the book, as they make more money from the selling of their marketing tools (books, tapes, and functions) than they do in selling the Amway products.

The book was a slow read as it is so detailed. At one point, the author goes down a rabbit hole of criticizing Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, and Norman Vincent Peale, none of which had anything to do with the MLM industry other than their books on positive thinking were used by the MLM founders to control the minds of their independent contractors they brought into the business.

Some of the author's information was also incorrect. She lumped Avon in with the MLM pyramid scheme companies. While Avon does have a commission structure that pays representatives off of sales of people they bring into the fold, Avon's emphasis is on selling their products, not in recruiting new members. Avon has protected territories, whereas the other companies, such as Amway, Mary Kay, Herbalife, etc., do not have protected territories.

Unfortunately, the author allowed her personal biases to show through her writing in the book. Her left wing, anti-capitalism, pro union, anti-Judeo-Christian values were pushed throughout the book as an agenda. The story could have been better told by sticking strictly to the facts, as a true journalist would do. She also incorrectly blames right-wing, conservative, religious people, especially Mormons and Christians for the MLM scams.

Also, on page 48, the math in her illustration of doubling a penny daily is not accurate. By simply using a calculator one can quickly determine that the actual amount would be different than what the author claims. She grossly underestimated the total amount at the end of a 30 day period.

Overall, a good book, but it could have been a 5-star read if the personal politics of the author were not included.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know a few people who have fell victim to MLM schemes so I was super intrigued by this. I learned a lot about pyramid schemes I didn't know. This is informative but not boring. This is well written and I would recommend it! Special Thank You to Bridget Read, Crown Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Sarah Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3.5 but rounded up cuz I know this was hard work and research
I got so creeped out for so much of this book :)
I really liked how she went beyond just how crazy MLMs are and went into how they’re actually so much more commonplace and have held an insane amount of power over why we have the “free enterprise” rhetoric we have today and so few regulations
I hope nobody I love or care about ever falls for any of these including myself . Pure evil

[Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read has written an incredible book about the pernicious and pervasive MLM industry that has infiltrated the American brain and much of our life, even the government.

Starting with a history of how MLM’s developed, Read gives us the true backstory of many of these snake oil salesmen and their chaotic roles in pioneering the MLM model. She then takes it thorough the 60s 70s 80s and into the modern day, showing just how some of the most powerful families in bed with Trump and the New right have made their money selling a lie to venerable Americans, as well as exporting the model internationally.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been fascinated by MLM culture for years. This book scratched that itch for me. Very much enjoyed!! Keep fighting back against these predators!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in anti-MLM content, white collar crime/scams, or the history of how far-right politicians and corporate interests have dragged us to our current moment of crisis in American politics, this book is for you. I have read other books about MLMs, but many of them fall short by treating them as nothing more than quirky curiosities that sometimes pop up in your Instagram DMs like weeds. Little Bosses Everywhere skips making fun of the exploited “huns” and recognizes MLMs for what they truly are--a crime syndicate of right-wing donors feeding on the working class like vampires and operating illegal pyramid schemes in plain sight.

Although the book primarily focuses on a broader analysis of pyramid schemes and their history, it also follows one woman (a veteran who is given the pseudonym Monique) throughout her near-decade long experience in Mary Kay. My only qualm with the book is the way these sections are structured--we follow her story in brief chapters interspersed throughout the book as she joins Mary Kay, struggles to rise through the ranks towards the top of the pyramid, and eventually becomes disillusioned and quits. I wish these sections had instead been presented as a single chapter towards the end of the book, rather than in numerous chapters throughout--since Monique's experience is so specific to modern MLMs, it feels disjointed from the historical context that the earlier sections of the book focus on. That said, I do think Monique's story was worth including. Although it may be anecdotal, it puts a human face on the harm caused by pyramid schemes and also illustrates very clearly how even those who do beat the odds and achieve "success" in an MLM (Monique eventually reaches a celebrated Mary Kay rank that only the top 1.5% of distributors achieve) are often still unable to build a successful "business" by any objective metric (despite all her efforts and success relative to other distributors, Monique still *lost* a huge amount of money through Mary Kay--she spent approximately $70,000 more than she ever earned). It's a very clear illustration of how big a scam pyramid schemes are and how little their marketing copy means--how is it possible for one of their top-ranking distributors to be losing an average of nearly $10,000 per year? What does it mean for you to be one of the most successful Mary Kay sellers if you're still buying exponentially more than you ever sell?

This is truly excellent nonfiction--really well-researched, deeply rooted in both historical and present context, and clear sighted about the scale of this problem. If you watched the Lularoe documentary and wondered “why is nobody shutting these companies down?,” this book is the best explanation yet of why these blatant scams have proven so hard to kill.

[Kaitlyn Hermansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched history of the multi level marketing industry, going back to its roots, and studying how MLMs continue to prey on women. An interesting read, just a little dry.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and heartbreaking, really. I mean, who doesn’t want to be their own boss—especially in a world where actual bosses can be, well, downright nuts? But this book makes it painfully clear that multi-level marketing isn’t the dream path it claims to be. It’s especially rough on women.

Reading it made me think back to all the Pampered Chef, jewelry, and rubber stamp parties I went to over the years. Now it all clicks—why the delivery took months, and how, after a few glasses of wine, my friends and I had to have that ridiculous apple peeler we were convinced would change our lives.

The book doesn’t just explain MLM; it uses it as a mirror for society. After all, the shape of a pyramid scheme isn’t that different from the shape of our economic system: a few people at the top, and the rest scrambling below. What MLMs did was teach recruits to admire the top rather than question the structure. Instead of saying, “This seems unfair,” they were bewitched and bamboozled to think, “Maybe that could be me someday.”

This is a thoroughly researched, detail-rich and quite joyless history of MLMs. If you’ve ever been involved in one—or if you’re just curious about the mechanics of marketing—it’s a must-read.

[Trin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of how multi-level marketing schemes came to be, mostly focusing on Amway and Mary Kay. I wish Read had covered more of the modern scams, but I appreciated the direct ties she drew between MLMs, Christian fundamentalism, and conservative politics. They are all working together and feeding each other, and ensuring that they always remain at the top of the pyramid.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of people seem to think this book is about MLM's (and that is an element of it), but it's really about PYRAMID SCHEMES and how that has shaped America. It felt to me like a crash course in the conservative economic movement of the last 50 or so years and gives context to so much of what we're seeing happen in the White House right now. I couldn't put it down. Everything I hoped it would be and then some.

[Ioana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful and horrifying

[Kirsten Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hey #GirlBoss! I was scrolling through your feed and think you’d be the PERFECT fit to join my book club! All you need to do is read this book, then find two other girly pops to read it, then they each find two more, and we’ll be living the life we’ve been manifesting in no time! For the low cost of $499.99, you can be a part of my pyra…family ❤️

Taking us on a historical journey from the early days of the snake oil salesman, to your Neighborhood Avon Lady, to the modern day Hun sending unsolicited DMs, the author dives deep into the formation of the MLM “business” model, the people who profit off it, and the dark money dealings that prevent the government from taking any real action to thwart them (shocker, The Heritage Foundation makes more than a couple appearances.) The unexpected pipeline of “girl you went to high school with selling you shampoo on Facebook” to Project 2025 really drove home just how predatory, sneaky and evil these businesses are. At the crux is a small group of powerful and disgustingly rich Christian nationalists dead-set on further sowing class division and pushing capitalistic greed for their own gain. And if you don’t believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell ya.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book on the history of MLMs. It gets a little depressing toward the end when you learn how the rise of the MLM industry has a lot to do with the rise of the New Right and how much influence they've had over legislation in the US since Reagan.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little Bosses Everywhere is a fascinating dive into the history of MLMs, who they hurt, and how they bought their political protection. There are a lot of books covering MLMs, but Read stands out by focusing on commonalities (structure, New Thought/Napoleon Hill worship, etc) and how they wormed their way into politics. I found the section discussing Amway and it's link to the DeVos family as well as the Heritage Foundation very interesting.

[Patti Coil · Rating 5 out of 5]

YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. It’s about so much more than Multilevel Marketing. It highlights the interconnected relationships between so many different facets of America today, and how we let this get that way. I mean, have you. Ever wondered how Amway’s founders got to be so wealthy but no one you know uses their products. Or where this “Be your own boss”, “Side hustle” culture came from? Or how putting things out into the universe with your intentions is just brainwashing you’ve internalized? Read this book, buy extra copies, and give these to everyone who sells MLM products. They may not realize they are in a cult.

But I also read this and wanted to place a Pampered Chef order, so, you know, YMMV.

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read's uncovering of the scandals behind MLM history is fascinating. While I had read some of it in other books, Read goes deeper, exposing MLM's connections to antifeminist and ultra-right religious movements. I was a "Mary Kay lady" for a short time in the aughts, and I saw firsthand how women were exploited. Luckily, I never engaged with it beyond buying things wholesale for my friends and family, but even then it was hard to "stay active" with minimum amounts to purchase every three months. This book is more than personal anecdotes, though--impeccably researched and thorough, it breaks down the nationwide corruption that causes these companies to exploit regular people.

[Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What fish are getting fried?" Jones replied. "None of the bankers did jail time for the 2008 collapse. You can't get any bigger than those Lehman Brothers fish, but nothing happened to them." Multilevel marketers, Jones said, "are just riding in the slipstream of the rest of America's graft."

this was an interesting read! the author details the origins of the MLM in America (beginning with Nutrilite, begat by businessman-failure turned vitamin-peddler, Carl Rehnborg, neither a scientist nor a doctor, despite his claims to the contrary), links the proliferation of MLMs in the mid-last century to the New Thought positive thinking movement (manifestation! the law of attraction! I had no idea those concepts were so antique), describes the failure of the FTC in the 1970s to curtail the predatory pyramid-scheme model inherent to MLM businesses (the KidVid controversy may have doomed us all), shows how the materialistic ‘80s greed-is-good mentality helped enable godlike ideologue kingpins within various MLMs to amass huge fortunes by selling their downlines tapes, books, and other tools completely ancillary to and divorced from their actual soap-selling (or whatever they were ostensibly supposed to be shilling). the final sections of the book deal with the MLM within the wellness space (looking at you, chalky Herbalife shakes sold out of dubious, unmarked storefronts), and how they operate now within the “postregulatory world” (looking at you, Donald Trump).

the author posits that MLMs have shaped America just as American values originally shaped MLMs. it’s a persuasive argument. the Amway heirs have used the vast fortune the MLM amassed to fund far-right political lobbying, aimed at extreme deregulation, dismantling social safety programs and funding, and weakening the FTC.

“… multilevel marketing and the damage it has wrought is a kind of canary in the coal mine, a portent of a future when all human relationships are defined as buyer and seller, sponsor and prospect. MLM foreshadows the failure of a society that entrusts the care of its citizens, their independence, the administration of democracy itself to the forces of capitalism. Rather than deliver infinite abundance, the majority will lose.”

[vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Definitely learning about MLMs is one of my interests. I fall into rabbit holes reading the AntiMLM subreddit. But fair warning that this book ended up being so much more about the power MLMs have had in American politics and history since the 1980s. It’s pretty depressing to realize the people influencing consequential decisions relating to workers’ rights, education, and women’s rights aren’t even real businesspeople, but frauds. I got really upset reading this book and honestly I think it inspired nightmares. In particular, learning about Amway is really hard to stomach as an American living in 2025. The book did a great job at hooking me into the early history I didn’t know much about (lots of failures and lots of fake doctors). There are moments where the writing does feel dry or procedural. The author shows her cards (sometimes understandably I suppose). I wish this featured more personal stories like Monique’s to really drive home the human interest element of how it affects folks in real life.