Making It in America

The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (And How It Got That Way)

De: Rachel Slade

Narrado por: Natalie Duke

A moving and eye-opening look at the story of manufacturing in America, whether it can ever successfully return to our shores, and why our nation depends on it, told through the experience of one young couple in Maine as they attempt to rebuild a lost industry, ethically. • From the best-selling author of Into the Raging Sea

Ben Waxman spent a decade organizing workers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin, fighting for men and women at a time when national support for unions had sunk to an all-time low. Frustrated with the state of the world, he lands back in his hometown of Portland, Maine, to rethink his life. There, he meets Whitney Reynolds, a restless bartender eager for a challenge. In each other, they see a better future, a version of the American dream they can build together.

Ben and Whitney set out to prove that union-made, all-American-sourced apparel manufacturing is possible in the twenty-first century. Their quest takes us across the nation and across time, from the cotton fields of Mississippi to the hollowed-out garment district in New York City to a family-owned zipper company in Los Angeles to the enormous knit-and-dye houses in North Carolina. While battling anti-immigrant hostility, trade wars, and a global pandemic, they grapple with the true meaning of made-in-USA in our globalized world.

Making It in America offers a fascinating new take on free-trade economics and manufacturing history. Woven through the Waxmans’ journey is the essential story of textiles and their critical role in shaping capitalism. It was the demand for cheap cloth that sparked the industrial revolution. It was the brutal conditions in New England's textile mills that first drove workers to organize. Making It in America is a deeply personal account of how individual choices shape a nation. Each touchpoint casts a rare, compassionate look at what came before, where we are now, and where we’re going—through the people, places, and ecologies that produce the fabric of our lives.

©2023 Rachel Slade (P)2023 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

One of Cosmopolitan’s 14 Best Nonfiction Books Coming Out in 2024
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Pick in Business and Economics
One of the Next Big Idea Book Club’s 40 Nonfiction Books to Look Out for in 2024
One of the Financial Times’ Best Business Books of the Month

“An enlightening look at the history of manufacturing in America and how we got to where we are today.” —Cosmopolitan

“By following the Waxmans over years as they build their business — and more than once come close to losing everything — Slade tells a story of trade, globalization, capital, labor and the political choices that have led to American manufacturing’s decline, and makes an impassioned case for its return.” —The New York Times

A Tragic Tale

An excellent, in-depth examination of a specific company’s attempt to make something in America at a time when political and global trends worked against it. A bit too much detail for my taste—The main idea could have been made without them.
Still, an important contribution to our understanding of what happened to get us to this point where almost nothing is made in America.