- ISBN13: 9780470379202
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
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.
A Year Without “Made in China”: One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy
WOW what an eye opening book. While the author got the idea of not buying anything from china right at Christmas, my awakening has come while packing to move. When I have discovered even the upscale items I had paid thru the nose for, from LL Bean, Smith and Hawkens, even Lenox items, all had Made in China on them.
I also appreciate the authors sense of humor which makes this book an easier read, since it makes you see the problem without becoming a xenophobic type person who also hates the Chinese. In fact she notes its American businesses who have taken American jobs overseas where they can have cheap made goods and higher profits at home that is the real problem.
Am so happy the author wrote this book, which I think should be in every library in America not only because it reminds us of how made in China makes up a good 90% of what we have in our homes. It also goes beyond the issues of out souring and loss of American jobs, to the whole comsumerism and materialism that has Americans by the throat. Even the dang plastic they use to make Visa, Mastercard, Discovery and American Express is made in China.
Look at the millions of cell phones, iPods, iPhones, video games, and all the high tech items Americans stand in line to be the first to buy. All made in China. And bought by an increasingly obese sit at home and do nothing, consumers.
And as she noted the shoes for kids whose feet grow faster than a corn field, and sold at all the major stores that families with kids frequent, all seem to have the made in China label. Same with virtually every toy and most school supplies. She even writes of going out of her way to buy made in Italy shoes for the kids. Makes me wonder where Stride Rite shoes we used to buy that were made here in the states are now made.
Even her husband found that when a repair for something in the house needed doing that places like Lowe’s, Home Depot etc had the parts needed but also Made in China on the box. Items may be cheaper on the surface but what are the deeper costs?
If Americans were willing to pay fifty cents more and they knew the item would result in Made in USA and a job here at home for a fellow American I firmly believe that people would pay up.
Am going to give my copy to the local library where more people can be challenged.
Rating: 5 / 5
So do you know where the vast majority of the stuff in your house and life is made? Have you ever given it much thought? Try reading A Year Without “Made in China”: One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni for an entertaining and eye-opening look at just how much we have come to depend on China for everyday life. Besides being a laugh-out-loud read, it will cause you to start looking a bit more carefully at that “Made In” tag…
Contents: Introduction; Farewell, My Concubine; Red Shoes; Rise and China; Manufacturing Dissent; A Modest Proposal; Mothers of Invention; Summer of Discontent; Red Tide; China Dreams; Meltdown; The China Season; Road’s End; Epilogue; About the Author; Index
Sara Bongiorni, the author, decided on January 1, 2005, that her and her family would spend a year without buying anything made in China. This wasn’t a radical “WE MUST BUY AMERICAN!” reaction, rather an experiment to see if it was possible to live without feeding the growing economic tiger across the Pacific. Factor in the elements of a husband and two young children, and it becomes a task far beyond what she had imagined. With her journalistic background, she set off on an adventure that taxed her will, her patience, and her sanity. And you, the reader, get to come along for the ride and the laughs.
The rules were simple. Nothing could be purchased that had a “Made In China” sticker on it. Gifts received by others could be made in China, but there would be no family purchases that fell in that category. What she and her husband quickly found is that there are vast consumer areas that are nearly all Chinese-dominated. Toys? Nearly all made in China. Lamps? Made in China. Shoes for the kids? China. Electronics? Yup, China. It was possible to find exceptions to these rules, but it usually meant hours (or days) of searching, in addition to spending far more money than they were used to. Birthday candles for cakes? China. Holiday decorations? China. That one special toy that your child just HAS to have at Christmas because Santa will come through? Count on it being made in China. The interplay of emotions and dialogue between her and everyone else had me reading passages to my wife (and both of us laughing). And I could relate to her schemes to get around the boycott by mentioning to her mother-in-law what exactly so-and-so wanted for their birthday, knowing it could come in as a gift but not as a purchase. Desperation makes cowards of us all. While there were a few mistaken buys (as well as a few knowing “mistakes” by “the Weaker Link”), overall the boycott was pretty closely adhered to. Not that there weren’t some times when giving in would have been easier on everyone, however…
The underlying message in all this is that we’ve abandoned large areas of industry and commerce to others who will manufacture it for far less money than American and European workers. While we might be able to get the $49 DVD player and the $10 red sneakers for the kids at Wal-Mart, the question is… what happens when all the decent jobs are shipped off and we can’t afford even the basics? Manufacturing in China might keep prices much lower, but it also eliminates the jobs that offer wages to pay for those goods. Bongiorni does a great job of making those points without turning the book into a diatribe against global trade. The average person is much more likely to read a book like this, enjoy the story, and start to grasp the important points. A business book about the same subject with stats and theories would probably never get opened…
I read this book in about one day, as I couldn’t put it down. And when I went to work today, I started flipping over a few things on my desk. China, China, China… While I’m not ready to take the same drastic actions of the author, I will be much more aware of just what I’m doing when I pick up that household item that I absolutely *need*. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll flip over a few more options before I decide.
Rating: 5 / 5
I actually rushed out to buy this book this weekend after reading an online news story that interviewed this author. The book sounded intriguing. A Year Without “MADE IN CHINA”: One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni is, as the title says, the story about how the author and her family attempted to avoid products MADE IN CHINA for an entire year and the difficulties and frustrations (and humorous things, too) they encounter along the way . The book was so engaging that I sat down and read the entire thing, cover to cover, in between doing my laundry. As I loaded the wash machine, I found myself looking at the labels of each article of clothing I was throwing in. It never really occurred to me how much of what we buy is actually MADE IN CHINA. It also never occurred to me how difficult it would be to kick China out (especially for folks with kids). I thought I would offer this book up to my husband to read next (and I probably still will), but I suspect that it might not resonate with him simply because, in my opinion, it’s a bit too kid-heavy so he might find himself annoyed with that (we’re child-free). Reading this book felt like, to me, having a long conversation over coffee with a girlfriend. It’s definitely worth a read, especially for those who are in charge of doing most of the shopping for their families. It will definitely make you more mindful about what you’re buying and considerate of your own role in the global economy. Mind you this book is NOT about demonizing China, but rather understanding how dependent we are on China for certain things (especially shoes and children’s toys) and how indulgent a society we really are. Or at least that’s what I took away from it.
Rating: 5 / 5
Don’t waste your money (I didn’t I read it from the library)- here is the book in sum:
- Privileged family of four decides to not purchase items from China for one year
- They get to keep already purchased items and any items given to them during this year
- The rationale behind this decision is not well thought out
- Book is written in a kind of whiny diary format- very tedious reading and at times you feel the author is neurotic and as the book drags on she becomes more obsessive compulsive.
- Mother puts family’s welfare at risk by not buying sunglasses for husband even though he has a “tumor on his retina”, shoes for their growing son, or barrettes for their daughter “so she could see”- all in the name of this endeavor
- Even though rat-traps are American made- author lets the mice run her house for weeks to apparently months before actually dispatching them. Where is this woman’s common sense? Remember the plague? Hantavirus? They are not called vermin for nothing.
- Author gets around the “don’t buy from China rule” by coercing/manipulating family members to “gifting” needed items so she can still say she is boycotting China because these items were not purchased by the family. What is the point of the boycott again?
- Family gets to purchase items from China again after the year is over.
- Sounds to me an “experiment” which is nothing but fodder for a lame book
Wasted opportunities
Nowhere in this book was there a conscious effort to decrease the family’s desire for materialism. Unfortunate. There was never a discussion of wants versus needs, which this book cries out for. Never any thought to buying at second hand stores or from artisans and craft outlets- very sad. I would have enjoyed knowing about what was easily found and made in USA and web links and resources etc.
The forward is actually more interesting than the whole book. There is never any detailed analysis of the economy of China, conditions of their workers, trade imbalance or the impact this has had on China’s environment. No mention of the lead in their products. It would have been interesting to compare the carbon footprint of getting an item from China versus traveling to numerous stores looking for said item versus having it shipped.
There was so much more that could have been done with this subject.
Rating: 1 / 5
I couldn’t wait to read this book because I wanted the sort of insights one would expect from an author who’d spent a year boycotting Chinese goods and had written a book about the subject. I mean, everyone knows that 80% of what you pick up in a store is “made in China” but what I wanted are the things that you really don’t know. I wanted to learn things like which medicines are made in China, or better yet, are there any medications these days that aren’t made in China? What are the regulations on those medications and what are the series of checks and balances (if any) that pertain to medicines, and while we’re at it, what about foods?
What about the labeling practices for Chinese-made candies sold under American brand names, such as Mars? If you look at Mars candy, you won’t see “made in China” on the label, but if you interview the Mars company, you might find out something interesting about where the company gets its ingredients, and how their origin can escape the American consumer via inadequate labeling laws.
I wanted to know when so much of the American processed food industry became Chinese, how much and whether our produce is coming from China, what about the horrid stories I’ve heard about fish being raised under disgusting conditions in China, then frozen and shipped to unsuspecting American consumers.
I wanted to read about her in-depth research, interviews with insiders within American industry who can speak to the issue, I wanted facts that would enlighten or enrage, but at the very least engage my curious mind.
Instead, I got a year’s long diary of an average housewife and her average husband (no matter how deluded she is that he looks like Steve McQueen) and their immensely dull shopping habits. Arhg!. Get me out of here. If I have to read one more tale of their trip through a Target store looking into the wondering eyes of their poor little son Wes who is being deprived of yet another cheap Chinese toy, I think I will scream.
This book is faintly amusing and in some parts, actually made me laugh, but mostly it’s made me impatient to get through it so that into the Goodwill bag it can go. Tonight at the hockey rink I saw a man gazing wistfully at the cover as if trying to imprint it on his retina to later pick up a copy. I came close to saying, “it’s not very good. Don’t bother.”
This book is a dim witted account of one shopping trip after another with the deepest research of the book consisting of a trip to Walmart to examine labels, calling first-line call-order clerks at catalog companies to ask country of origin of their clothes, and quoting a couple of Time Magazine articles.
This one loses on all accounts with me, except for the occasional streak of humor. The writing is so lightweight and uninformed (and uninformative) that it has led me to wonder if she actually quit her job working on an unnamed business magazine or was asked to leave.
Rating: 1 / 5