SAM WALTON: MADE IN AMERICA

Life has been great to me, probably better than any man has a right to expect. At home, I've been blessed with a wife and family who've stuck together and loved each other and indulged my lifelong obsession with minding the store. At work, my business life has been spent in lockstep with an incredible group of Wal-Mart associates who have put up with all my aggravation and bullheadedness and pulled together to make what once appeared truly impossible now seem expected and routine. So first, I want to dedicate this book to Helen Robson Walton and the four fine kids she raised—with some help along the way from the old man—our sons Rob, John, and Jim, and our daughter Alice. Then I want to dedicate it to all my partners—and I wish I could recognize every one of you individually, but we've talked over the years and you know how I feel about you—and to all 400,000 of my associate-partners who've made this wild, wild Wal-Mart ride so much fun and so special. Much of this book is really your story.