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Sign up todayMaking It in America
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Learn moreA moving and eye-opening look at the story of manufacturing in America, whether it can ever successfully return to our shores, and why our nation depends on it, told through the experience of one young couple in Maine as they attempt to rebuild a lost industry, ethically. • From the best-selling author of Into the Raging Sea
Ben Waxman spent a decade organizing workers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin, fighting for men and women at a time when national support for unions had sunk to an all-time low. Frustrated with the state of the world, he lands back in his hometown of Portland, Maine, to rethink his life. There, he meets Whitney Reynolds, a restless bartender eager for a challenge. In each other, they see a better future, a version of the American dream they can build together.
Ben and Whitney set out to prove that union-made, all-American-sourced apparel manufacturing is possible in the twenty-first century. Their quest takes us across the nation and across time, from the cotton fields of Mississippi to the hollowed-out garment district in New York City to a family-owned zipper company in Los Angeles to the enormous knit-and-dye houses in North Carolina. While battling anti-immigrant hostility, trade wars, and a global pandemic, they grapple with the true meaning of made-in-USA in our globalized world.
Making It in America offers a fascinating new take on free-trade economics and manufacturing history. Woven through the Waxmans’ journey is the essential story of textiles and their critical role in shaping capitalism. It was the demand for cheap cloth that sparked the industrial revolution. It was the brutal conditions in New England's textile mills that first drove workers to organize. Making It in America is a deeply personal account of how individual choices shape a nation. Each touchpoint casts a rare, compassionate look at what came before, where we are now, and where we’re going—through the people, places, and ecologies that produce the fabric of our lives.
RACHEL SLADE is the acclaimed author of Into the Raging Sea, a national bestseller, New York Times Notable Book, and winner of the Maine Literary Award for nonfiction. She spent a decade in the city magazine trenches at Boston—first as the design editor, ultimately as executive editor. Her editing and writing have won national awards in civic journalism, reporting, criticism, and reader service. She has been a lecturer in political science and journalism at Tufts University. She splits her time between Brookline, Massachusetts, and Rockport, Maine.
Reviews
One of Cosmopolitan’s 14 Best Nonfiction Books Coming Out in 2024A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Pick in Business and Economics
One of the Next Big Idea Book Club’s 40 Nonfiction Books to Look Out for in 2024
One of the Financial Times’ Best Business Books of the Month
“An enlightening look at the history of manufacturing in America and how we got to where we are today.”
—Cosmopolitan
“By following the Waxmans over years as they build their business — and more than once come close to losing everything — Slade tells a story of trade, globalization, capital, labor and the political choices that have led to American manufacturing’s decline, and makes an impassioned case for its return.”
—The New York Times
“Persuasively argue[d] . . . Slade’s book gives a granular sense of just how hard it is for business owners, particularly those in manufacturing, to do the right thing by their workers in America today. It also conveys just how meaningful and rewarding building a truly ethical business can be, for owners and workers alike . . . its broader political resonance is potent and timely.”
—The Washington Post
“A timely examination of the difficulty of reviving manufacturing in the US . . . Slade explores the imprint that decades of neoliberalism and offshoring has left on America’s worker and economic resilience through the Waxmans’ compelling story. From Ben’s idealistic youth working for unions to the couple’s drives up the eastern seaboard in search of the last vestiges of the American textile network, Made-in-USA enthusiasts and free-trade hawks alike will be rooting for this couple to succeed.”
—Financial Times
“Excellent . . . I have been waiting with great anticipation for many months for this book to come out, and I’m pleased to report that it was worth the wait. Making It in America is a treasure trove of fascinating, relevant historical information—a Buy American manifesto disguised as a narrative. It’s both a delight and an education to see how Rachel puts all the information together and how she chooses to construct it.”
—Greg Olear, Prevail podcast and newsletter, author of Dirty Rubles
“An incisive look at the history and current state of American manufacturing. . . . This galvanizing call for Americans ‘to start making things for themselves’ serves as both a sweeping report on a globalized industry and a practical road map for aspiring small-scale manufacturers. Readers will feel invigorated.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Both provides a wealth of background information on the rise and fall of manufacturing in America and tells a story of rebellious entrepreneurship, one full of hope, determination, and the American spirit.”
—Booklist
“Readers of this engaging story will find themselves rooting for the plucky couple . . . an uplifting Horatio Alger story.”
—The Christian Science Monitor
“[A] page-turning chronicle . . . Slade is an experienced and insightful storyteller.”
—Boston Business Journal
“Reads almost like a drama.”
—News Center Maine
“At turns rousing and heartbreaking, Making It in America takes the reader on a journey that is both encyclopedic and intimate, through the wastelands of America’s lost manufacturing might, and the jobs, families and communities that were crushed in the process. As we ride on the shoulders of Ben and Whitney Waxman, who wanted nothing more than to make a sweatshirt ethically in America and pay their workers a fair wage, Slade’s revelatory account brings home the greed and immense global forces bearing down on average Americans, and how a plucky duo battled to retain their integrity.”
— Katherine Eban, author of Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom
“A knowledgeable indictment of failed American trade and labor policies, Rachel Slade's timely book, powered by her admirable skills as a storyteller, also provides a much-needed glimpse of a potentially fairer, more equitable future for American workers and consumers.”
—Philip Dray, author of There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America Expand reviews
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