Making It in America
The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (and How It Got That Way)
New York : Pantheon Books, [2024]
Format: Book
Description: xiii, 334 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
"Meet Ben and Whitney Waxman, two tireless idealists attempting to do the impossible: produce an American-made, union-made, all American-sourced sweatshirt, an American hoodie. Ben spent a decade organizing workers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin, fighting for Americans at a time when national support for unions had sunk to an all-time low. Struggling with depression and a drug dependency, Ben lands back in his hometown of Portland, Maine, desperate to prove that ethical manufacturing is possible. There, he meets Whitney, a bartender wrestling with her own complicated past. In each other they see a better future, a version of the American dream they can build together. Making It in America is a deeply personal account of one couple's quest to change the world. As they navigate private struggles, international trade wars, and a global pandemic, their story carries us across the nation and across time, from the cotton fields of Mississippi to New York City's hollowed-out garment district to a family-owned zipper company in Los Angeles to the enormous knit-and-dye factories in North Carolina. Throughout, we grapple with what “Made in the USA” really means to Americans in the twenty-first century." -- Provided by publisher.
Contents:
Preamble: The traffic jam that never ends -- Introduction: The high cost of cheap stuff -- Maine roots -- The kid is okay -- Greed is a real thing -- Witness -- She's outta your league -- Reboot -- Let's make something -- Game on -- New Americans -- a brief history of the hoodie -- Just pull it and it's done -- 54 operations -- Can you make 5000? -- The fabric king of 38th Street -- Follow the river -- It takes Chutzpah -- Pandemic panic along Route 66 -- We'll come back -- We gotta shut up and listen -- An omen -- Cornering the cotton market -- Labor pains -- Your job is to produce -- The never-ending quest for smart money -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- Index.
Subjects:
Textile industry -- United States -- History.
Clothing trade -- United States -- History.
Free trade -- History.
Labor unions -- United States -- History.
Textile industry -- United States -- History.
Clothing trade -- United States -- History.
Free trade -- History.
Labor unions -- United States -- History.
ISBN:
9780593316887
Availability | |||
---|---|---|---|
Call Number | Location | Shelf Location | Status |
BUSINESS Sla | Main (Downtown) | Nonfiction | Out (Due: 5/22/2024) |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-317) and index.