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 former spouses and fashion competitors Tory and Christopher Burch. Peter Whoriskey (Washington Post) exposes the human cost of promoting pharmaceuticals for off-label uses. 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.

Introduction
Part I. Bad Business
1. The Dark Lord of Coal Country, by Jeff Goodell
2. Missing Milly Dowler's Voicemail Was Hacked by News of the World, by Nick Davies and Amellia Hill
3. Phone-Hacking Crisis Shows News Corp Is No Ordinary News Company, by Jay Rosen
4. The Bugger, Bugged, by Hugh Grant
5. A Case of Shattered Trust, by Raquel Rutledge and Rick Barrett
Part II. The Financial System and Its Discontents
6. The "Subsidy": How a Handful of Merrill Lynch Bankers Helped Blow Up Their Own Firm, by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger
7. Countrywide Protected Fraudsters by Silencing Whistleblowers, Say Former Employees, by Michael Hudson
8. Curse the Geniuses Who Gave Us Bank of America, by Jonathan Weil
9. Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?, by Matt Taibbi
10. In Financial Crisis, No Prosecutions of Top Figures, by Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story
Part III. Over There
11. Time for Germany to Make Its Fateful Choice, by Martin Wolf
12. In Norway, Start-Ups Say Ja to Socialism, by Max Chafkin
Part IV. Politics and Money
13. Swiped: Banks, Merchants, and Why Washington Doesn't Work for You, by Zach Carter and Ryan Grim
14. Stop Coddling the Super-Rich, by Warren Buffett
15. Blame for the Financial Mess Starts with the Corporate Lobby, by Steven Pearlstein
16. Nine Things the Rich Don't Want You to Know About Taxes, by David Cay Johnston
17. The Hijacked Crisis, by Paul Krugman
18. Greenspan, Rubin, and a Roomful of Hypocrites, by Morgan Housel
Part V. The Big Picture
19. The Rise of the New Global Elite, by Chrystia Freeland
20. Can the World Still Feed Itself?, by Brian M. Carney
21. Law School Economics: Ka-Ching!, by David Segal
22. When Patents Attack!, by Alex Blumberg and Laura Sydell
23. The Illusions of Psychiatry, by Marcia Angell
24. From Inside Job, by Charles Ferguson, Adam Bolt, and Chad Beck
Part VI. Corporate Stories
25. Inside Pfizer's Palace Coup, by Peter Elkind and Jennifer Reingold, with Doris Burke
26. It Knows, by Daniel Soar
27. Innovators Don't Ignore Customers, by John Gapper
28. House Perfect, by Lauren Collins
29. Voting to Hire a Chief Without Meeting Him, by James B. Stewart
30. How Ford Became Last Man Standing, by Bernie Woodall and Kevin Krokicki
31. What Made Steve Jobs So Great?, by Cliff Kuang
Permissions
List of Contributors