The four -- Who are these companies and why write about them? -- Amazon -- How Amazon became the most disruptive firm in the largest economy -- Apple -- Tech goes luxury -- Facebook -- Love is key to longevity and great advertising -- Google -- Our modern-day god -- Lie to me -- The four and funny business -- Business and the body -- All businesses appeal to one of three organs -- The t-algorithm -- What it takes to get to a trillion -- The fifth horseman -- Who will be next? -- The four and you -- Follow your talent, not your passion -- After the horsemen -- Where are the four taking us? -- Acknowledgments -- Illustration credits -- Notes -- Index.

For all that's been written about the Four over the last two decades, no one has captured their power and staggering success as insightfully as Scott Galloway. Instead of buying the myths these compa-nies broadcast, Galloway asks fundamental questions. How did the Four infiltrate our lives so completely that they're almost impossible to avoid (or boycott)? Why does the stock market forgive them for sins that would destroy other firms? And as they race to become the world's first trillion-dollar company, can anyone chal-lenge them? In the same irreverent style that has made him one of the world's most celebrated business professors, Galloway deconstructs the strategies of the Four that lurk beneath their shiny veneers. He shows how they manipulate the fundamental emotional needs that have driven us since our ancestors lived in caves, at a speed and scope others can't match. And he reveals how you can apply the lessons of their ascent to your own business or career. Whether you want to compete with them, do business with them, or simply live in the world they dominate, you need to understand the Four.