A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy - Hardcover

Bongiorni, Sara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470116137 ISBN 13: 9780470116135

Publisher: Wiley, 2007

Synopsis

A Year Without "Made in China" provides you with a thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining account of how the most populous nation on Earth influences almost every aspect of our daily lives. Drawing on her years as an award-winning journalist, author Sara Bongiorni fills this book with engaging stories and anecdotes of her family's attempt to outrun China's reach–by boycotting Chinese made products–and does a remarkable job of taking a decidedly big-picture issue and breaking it down to a personal level.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

"The image of China as the beast of the Far East is well entrenched. But that doesn't necessarily mean the reality matches the popular perception. So, is China really the economic steamroller we think it is? Even more importantly, could we really live without Chinese goods? That is the question asked by Sara Bongiorni in her book, A Year Without 'Made in China.'"
—From the Foreword by Joel L. Naroff, PhD
President, Naroff Economic Advisors, Inc.
Chief Economist, Commerce Bank

On January 1, 2005, Sara Bongiorni's family embarked on a yearlong boycott of Chinese products. They wanted to see for themselves what it would take, in will power and creativity, to live without the world's fastest growing economy—and whether it could be done at all.

A Year Without "Made in China" chronicles this fascinating and frustrating journey, and provides you with a thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining account of life in a vast and slippery global economy of infinite complexity. Drawing on her years as an award-winning journalist, Bongiorni fills this book with engaging stories and anecdotes of her family's attempt to outrun China's reach, and does a remarkable job of taking a decidedly big-picture issue—China's emerging status in the global economy—and breaking it down to a personal level.

Bongiorni's real-world adventure is filled with small human dramas. You'll learn how her boycott of China meant scrambling to keep her rebellious husband in line and disappointing her young son in stand-offs over Chinese-made toys. You'll also discover how shopping trips for mundane items like birthday candles as well as high-end designer clothing became grinding ordeals, while broken appliances brought on mini crises.

A Year Without "Made in China" reveals how this manufacturing colossus is quietly changing our lives, but it also addresses the realities of globalization and, more importantly, where the world economy is heading. With low wages and government subsidies fueling China's rapid production of consumer goods, countries and companies around the world will soon face the inconvenient fact that they must rely on this economic giant in order to survive—and this book offers a rare glimpse of what that could be like.

See for yourself how the most populous nation on Earth influences almost every aspect of our daily lives and why this situation is both limiting and expanding our options when it comes to the products a majority of us take for granted.

From the Back Cover

Includes a Foreword by Joel L. Naroff, PhD,
President, Naroff Economic Advisors, Inc.
Chief Economist, Commerce Bank

"Over the past century, Americans' images of China have fluctuated wildly from victim, to heroic fighter, to Communist fanatic. We have loved them and feared them. And now, as Sara Bongiorni shows in vivid personal terms, we are in a new phase where it is a little of both. China has become an economic giant that can step on our toes, but that we must embrace."
—John Maxwell Hamilton, Dean and Hopkins P. Breazeale Foundation Professor Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University

"When the writer resolves to forgo Chinese imports for one year, she leads her lively family in a fascinating experiment that requires surprising feats of will power and ingenuity. The family's adventure through the maze of modern America's consumer life is both thought provoking and delightful to read. Those little 'Made in China' labels will never seem the same again."
—Mark Fabiani, former White House special counsel and media/political consultant

"Breaking up is indeed hard to do, as Sara Bongiorni proves in this winning memoir of her household's one-year boycott of Chinese products. Equal parts Erma Bombeck and economics, A Year Without 'Made in China' is that lively miracle—a crash course in globalization that is also consummately entertaining."
—Danny Heitman, columnist for The Advocate (Baton Rouge)

"A funny and engaging story about one family's experiment in our global economy. The Bongiorni family does without sneakers, sunglasses, and printer cartridges, but develops a dogged creativity and much needed sense of humor. The myriad moral complexities in the relationship between American consumers and Chinese factory are evident in each shopping trip."
—Pietra Rivoli, PhD, Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University and author, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy

"You will never go shopping the same way again! It's impossible to read Sara Bongiorni's book and not be captivated by the complexity and challenge of her task, and to then try it yourself for a day and fail miserably at it by lunchtime. This is the rare book that makes you think about how big global issues actually hit home, and it will have you discussing those issues with your friends."
—Chuck Jaffe, Senior Columnist, MarketWatch host, Your Money (www.yourmoneyradio.net)

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0470116137
• ISBN 13: 9780470116135
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256