In this brisk, engaging chronicle of one of the most stunning success stories in American business history, Adam Cohen takes us inside eBay the corporation--where all the important players, including eBay's founder Pierre Omidyar and CEO Meg Whitman, demystify their roles and tell the story straight--as well as inside the community of eBay's passionate users, who buy and sell everything from antique pickle jars and record albums to Ford trucks and $40,000 computer servers. His book reveals the many surprising ways in which eBay's "virtual marketplace" has indelibly changed not only the face of American business but the American cultural landscape.

• business