The Book Nook

[cathepsut]

The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade by Pietra Rivoli

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


There is a prologue and a lengthy prologue to the prologue, before we get into the details of Texas cotton farming and being thoroughly educated on the history of cotton farming in the US. That is followed by a very brief chapter about China that focuses on sweatshops, giving the impression that there is nothing else there. Then follows an over-detailed and way too long chapter on trade policies, quotas and politics. At that point I nearly tossed the book, because it was not only painfully boring, but also extremely out-dated. The only part of the book that had some life to it and kept my interest, was the last chapter about the African trade in second hand clothing.

Too long, too much about cotton farming and politics in the US, very little on world trade, too many details and statistics, too many anecdotes about people that I didn't connect with. Very, very out-dated. The book could have done with an update, a revision or even a lengthy additional chapter showing the developments after the actual end of the quota system. A lot has happened since 2005.


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