Factory Man
How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local - and Helped Save an American Town
by Beth Macy
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Pub Date Jul 15 2014 | Archive Date Sep 08 2015
Description
The Bassett Furniture Company was once the world's biggest wood furniture manufacturer. Run by the same powerful Virginia family for generations, it was also the center of life in Bassett, Virginia. But beginning in the 1980s, the first waves of Asian competition hit, and ultimately Bassett was forced to send its production overseas.
One man fought back: John Bassett III, a shrewd and determined third-generation factory man, now chairman of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co, which employs more than 700 Virginians and has sales of more than $90 million. In Factory Man, Beth Macy brings to life Bassett's deeply personal furniture and family story, along with a host of characters from an industry that was as cutthroat as it was colorful. As she shows how he uses legal maneuvers, factory efficiencies, and sheer grit and cunning to save hundreds of jobs, she also reveals the truth about modern industry in America.
Advance Praise
"[Macy] has found a terrifically rich subject for her investigative 
reporting.... An illuminating, deeply patriotic David vs. Goliath book. 
 They give out awards for this kind of thing."—Janet Maslin, New York Times
"In
 a world of blue-collar victims, where logging chains seal forever the 
doors of mills and factories from the Rust Belt to the Deep South, Beth 
Macy's award-winning look at one furniture maker's refusal to give in is
 a breath of hope-and a damn fine story to read. The book tracks John 
Bassett's fight to keep American jobs on this side of borders and 
oceans, and keeps one American town from becoming a place of empty 
storefronts and FOR SALE signs."—Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Most They Ever Had
"Beth
 Macy has done a masterful job in personalizing the biggest American 
economic story of our time--how to save American jobs in the 21st 
Century. John Bassett III is a cinematic figure and quintessential 
American, battling for his company, his town and his country."—Jonathan Alter, author of The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies
"The
 author's brightly written, richly detailed narrative not only 
illuminates globalization and the issue of offshoring, but succeeds 
brilliantly in conveying the human costs borne by low-income people 
displaced from a way of life.... A masterly feat of reporting."—Kirkus (starred review)
"Macy's
 down-to-earth writing style and abundance of personal stories from 
manufacturing's beleaguered front lines make her work a stirring 
critique of globalization."—Carl Hays, Booklist
"Macy's riveting narrative is rich in local color.... Vivid reporting."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The unlikely hero of Factory Man is
 a determined, ornery, and absolutely indomitable...business man. He's 
the head of a family furniture company and damned if he's going to be 
pushed around. Beth Macy has given us an inspiring and engaging tale for
 our times, but not the expected one."—Alex Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Losing the News: The Future of the News that Feeds Democracy,
 Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
 and Laurence M. Lombard Lecturer in the Press and Public Policy
"The
 epic struggle of Virginia furniture manufacturer John Bassett III 
(JBIII) to save his business has given crackerjack reporter Beth Macy 
the book she was born to write. Longtime champion of the downtrodden and
 the working American, Macy brings globalization down to a human scale, 
giving a real voice and a recognizable face to everyone involved, from 
factory worker to government official to Chinese importer. Thorough 
reporting and brilliant writing combine to make FACTORY MAN an exciting,
 fast-paced account of a quintessentially American story that affects us
 all."—Lee Smith, author of Guests on Earth
"Beth
 Macy sees twists and subtleties that other journalists can't see, and 
she writes about the world around her with grit, honesty and remarkable 
grace.  She has a police detective's diligence and determination, a 
poet's way with words, and a born storyteller's gift for spot-on 
narrative."—Martin Clark, author of The Legal Limit
"Spirited,
 meticulously researched and well-written.... A page-turning tale that 
covers the company's history, family squabbles and the black-sheep son 
who rescued the company through pluck, persistence and political 
wrangling."—Margaret Jaworski, Success Magazine
"I've
 been reading Beth Macy for years. She is a great American writer. She 
sees everything, all the precious detail. A few years back, as the world
 was collapsing around us, she did a story on the temp who was answering
 phones at a hotline for those in financial hot water. The temp was this
 immense hero in all these ways that nobody else would have ever 
recognized. Of course, Macy never called her a hero. She just let the 
story do the work."—Roland Lazenby, author of Michael Jordan
"John
 Bassett's story has everything. An extraordinary dynasty, a relevant 
and inspiring message, and one of the best heroes I've read about in 
years. It works on every level, from the most personal betrayal to the 
realities of the global economy, from the struggle of one worker in a 
small Appalachian town to the future of our cultural as a whole. Part of
 me wishes I'd found John Bassett III, because this is powerful stuff, 
but it's obvious the story is in excellent hands with Beth Macy. 
Sometimes the right writer comes along with the right story at the right
 time. This is clearly that book."—Bret Witter, author of Dewey and Until Tuesday
"In
 a compelling and meticulously researched narrative, Macy follows the 
story from the Blue Ridge Mountains to China and Indonesia, chronicling 
[John] Bassett's tireless work to revive his company, and with it, an 
American town."—Garden & Gun
"It's a 
must-read just for its look at what happens at home when we send jobs 
overseas and how we all play a role. This one is a page-turner."—DesignSponge
Marketing Plan
What's your favorite American product? Tweet or Instagram with the hashtags #madeinamerica and #factoryman.
What's your favorite American product? Tweet or Instagram with the hashtags #madeinamerica and #factoryman.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format | 
| ISBN | 9780316231435 | 
| PRICE | $43.00 (USD) |