Philosopher Elizabeth Anderson argues that most American workers spend their days under forms of authority that would be recognized as tyranny in any other context. Employers can dictate workers' speech, appearance, and behavior both on and off the job; surveil their activities; and terminate them for almost any reason or none at all. Anderson traces how this situation emerged from the unfulfilled promises of free market ideology, which claimed that ending feudal and slave labor would create a world of free, self-employed citizens. Instead, industrialization created a new form of unfreedom as workers became dependent on employers for survival. Anderson draws on political philosophy to argue that workplaces function as private governments, exercising coercive authority over subjects who have no voice in their governance. She compares workplace authority to political dictatorship, noting that workers are subject to commands backed by serious sanctions without the protections citizens expect from public government. The book generated debate among economists, philosophers, and legal scholars, with responses from proponents of free markets included in the volume. Anderson engages these critics while maintaining that the labor market's theoretical freedom does not translate into actual liberty when workers face constrained choices and asymmetric power. The book challenges readers to recognize the authority they accept in workplaces and consider what a more democratic economic life might look like.