Summary

Praise for THE TRAVELS OF A T-SHIRT IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

"Engrossing . . . (Rivoli) goes wherever the T-shirt goes, and there are surprises around every corner . . . full of memorable characters and vivid scenes."
- Time

"An engaging and illuminating saga. . . . Rivoli follows her T-shirt along its route, but that is like saying that Melville follows his whale. . . . Her nuanced and fair-minded approach is all the more powerful for eschewing the pretense of ideological absolutism, and her telescopic look through a single industry has all the makings of an economics classic."
- The New York Times

"Rarely is a business book so well written that one would gladly stay up all night to finish it. Pietra Rivoli's The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy is just such a page-turner."
- CIO magazine

"Succeeds admirably . . . T-shirts may not have changed the world, but their story is a useful account of how free trade and protectionism certainly have."
- Financial Times

"[A] fascinating exploration of the history, economics, and politics of world trade . . . The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy is a thought-provoking yarn that exhibits the ugly, the bad, and the good of globalization, and points to the unintended positive consequences of the clash between proponents and opponents of free trade."
- Star-Telegram (Fort Worth)

"Part travelogue, part history, and part economics, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy is ALL storytelling, and in the grand style. A must-read."
-Peter J. Dougherty, Senior Economics Editor, Princeton University Press author of Who's Afraid of Adam Smith?

"A readable and evenhanded treatment of the complexities of free trade . . . As Rivoli repeatedly makes clear, there is absolutely nothing free about free trade except the slogan."
- San Francisco Chronicle

Publisher's Weekly Review

During a 1999 protest of the World Trade Organization, Rivoli, an economics professor at Georgetown, looked on as an activist seized the microphone and demanded, Who made your T-shirt? Rivoli determined to find out. She interviewed cotton farmers in Texas, factory workers in China, labor champions in the American South and used-clothing vendors in Tanzania. Problems, Rivoli concludes, arise not with the market, but with the suppression of the market. Subsidized farmers, and manufacturers and importers with tax breaks, she argues, succeed because they avoid the risks and competition of unprotected global trade, which in turn forces poorer countries to lower their prices to below subsistence levels in order to compete. Rivoli seems surprised by her own conclusions, and while some chapters lapse into academic prose and tedious descriptions of bureaucratic maneuvering, her writing is at its best when it considers the social dimensions of a global economy, as in chapters on the social networks of African used-clothing entrepreneurs. Agent, Tom Power. (Apr.)Correction: The agent for Stephen Buchmann's Letters from the Hive (Forecasts, Mar. 7) is Judith Riven. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Choice Review

Activists decry globalization as immoral and exploitive. Economists swear by the efficiencies and benefits accruing to societies involved in world trade. Wal-Mart satisfies the wants and needs of more consumers than any other corporation in the US, despite the abuse heaped on it. Given the world trade arguments posed by critics and supporters, it is difficult to distinguish emotion from fact and benefit from harm. Rivoli (Georgetown Univ.) takes the reader on the engaging journey of a $5.99 T-shirt through the political, manufacturing, and marketing maze, from a cotton farm in Texas to mills and factories in China, a shop in Florida, and ultimately a used clothing shop in Tanzania. She explains the history, economics, and politics driving the decisions throughout the process so readers are keenly aware of the social context every step of the way. Rivoli argues that in markets shaped by politics, not economics, every party to the globalization debate has something critical to contribute to the argument, but none has the entire answer. A readable and timely addition to the globalization debate. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers, undergraduate students at all levels, and practitioners. D. E. Mattson Anoka-Ramsey Community College

Library Journal Review

Who knew an ordinary T-shirt could tell tales? Rivoli (finance, Georgetown Univ.) follows her metaphorical Florida souvenir on a five-year trek to learn about globalization and its effects on workers and markets. Her tale actually begins centuries earlier than the World Trade Organization protests that launched her adventure. Readers learn about Eli Whitney and the underlying sociopolitical structures that turned the United States into the king of cotton while China's and India's peasant farmers were kept in their place. This tale is woven in regional colors beginning in the Texas cottonfields and then moving back and forth across the ocean to Chinese textile sweatshops, suburban DC Salvation Army bins, and Tanzanian secondhand clothing bazaars. The shirt tells the tale of the workers and business owners who have had a hand in growing, spinning, sewing, selling, and reselling it. Rivoli adds value to the tour with excellent background on the trade debates and pertinent international trade agreements and an examination of protectionism in the textile industries of various countries. Recommended for academic and public library business collections.-Carol J. Elsen, Univ. of Wisconsin, Whitewater (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.