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Title: The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade
ISBN: 0470039205
Author:
Pietra Rivoli
Publicate Date: 2006-06-30
Publish: 2006-06-30
List Price: $16.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.45
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $6.49
Amazon Merchant Price: $11.53
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Fantastic, well-written, and eye-opening
Upon first glance, it might appear that this book details economic aspects of a
single industry, namely that of T-shirts. You'd be mistaken. It instead offers
an insightful look into several different aspects of T-shirt production,
including agriculture, factory working conditions, free trade (and
lack thereof), and concluding with the world-wide used T-shirt market. Each of
these sections could merit a book topic in its own right, but Ms. Rivoli has
wonderfully combined them into a single book ripe for reading.
Learn about the history of cotton production, including the rise of American
production and why it's still on top. (Hint: the American government has more
than a small role, but farm subsidies aren't the major reason.) Learn about the
back-room political dealings that ensure that some of your clothes come from
Bangladesh and Mexico instead of China, even though China could provide them for
less (and why it might be a good idea to keep things that way). Learn about what
happens to a used T-shirt once it's donated to the Salvation Army, and how it
might end up being sold in a Kenyan's clothing stall instead of your local
thrift store.
There is not a dull moment to be found in the book, and in fact seems to get
more interesting as the book wears on. If there is any fault with the book, it
is that the book was published in 2005 which means that the revised textile
trade agreements from 2006 have been left out. A revised edition would be
appreciated. Luckily, that's the only fault I have with the book. Highly
recommended.
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2: Insights into global trade
This is easy to read and understand, written in an engaging and conversational style, with some important insights into the mysteries of crop subsidies, textile quotas and the fate of donated clothing. It's a great illustration and analysis of globalization in action.
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3: history of EVERYTHING about your t-shirt, from birth in a Texan cotton field to re-birth in a Tanzanian 2nd-hand clothing market
Allow me to provide a more descriptive title for this volume: What I did last summer + a history of cotton growing in America + a history of cotton mills around the world + a brief history of Shanghai + a brief history of child labor + a brief history of labor activism + a brief history of workplace safety regulations + a not-at-all-brief history of US textile protectionism + a characterization of the international market for used clothes. Interesting? Often.
In the course of all these histories - occasionally interspersed with a reminder that we are following Rivoli's t-shirt around the world - we jump from England to Japan to Texas to West Africa; we leap back and forth (and back and forth) from century to century. By the middle of the book, I had gotten dizzy and wished it had been a long magazine article.
But in fact, the second half is the most interesting. Rivoli gives a detailed history of textile protectionism in the United States, giving a peek into the dizzying, constantly morphing tariff and quota systems as well as the huge bureaucracy the system supports. And finally, she gives an illuminating description of what happens to the t-shirts after they get donated to the Salvation Army and how they make it to market stalls in East Africa.
Rivoli is an economist and so recognizes that her inherent leaning is toward free trade, but she argues for the value of both sides of the textile battle, both the free traders and the student demonstrators.
The first half of the book feels too long (even though it isn't that long), and Rivoli's strength is in illuminating description rather than careful analysis. But if you get bored, just skip ahead to the next chapter: There's plenty to choose from!
[I listened to the unabridged audiobook narrated by Eliza Foss, published by Recorded Books. The reading is fine, but Foss's voice is too syrupy sweet and storybookish for 8 CDs (think the voice-over narration from Desperate Housewives).]
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4: Boring and not informative enough
Worst of both worlds - claims to be anecdotal to get around having to have too much actual information (other than the more boring parts of the history of the American textile industry, but trades in interesting anecdotes for general suppositions and a couple sucess stories.
The last section is very cool and interesting and saves this book from the bin. If you get it, skip to the end.
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5: Great Read
The book is a good read, since I am taking my international trade class, this is actually one of the require reading. If someone who is very liberal, or cuddle to grave type of mentality, this book does not offer the cuddly senstivitive that the faint hearted people are looking for. But it is quite realistic. If you can look pass the sweatshops and all, this is a good read.
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