a fine account of how the countervailing forces of the market and protectionism conflict in combining in a single product (Financial Times, 30 July 2005)

"Rarely is a business book so well written that one would gladly stay up all night to finish it..."  (CIO: Chief Information Officer Magazine, June 15, 2005)

"Globalization is a hotbutton topic that generates strong feelings along with images of boardedup, independent businesses in America and exploitative sweatshops overseas. But what exactly is it? In The Travels of a TShirt in the Global Economy, Georgetown University business professor Pietra Rivoli chronicles the roundtheworld odyssey of a Tshirt, from Texas cottongrowers to an African usedclothing bazaar, to reveal how the planetary economy really works.
Along the way, we see how entrepreneurial U.S. farmers team with governmentsponsored researchersand take advantage of subsidies and trade barriersto dominate world cotton production. Migrant workers from Chinese family farms tell why they regard lowwage jobs in Shanghai sewing factories as golden opportunities. And only in that African usedclothing bazaar do we encounter a truly free market where entrepreneursperhaps including some future tycoons of the 21st centuryutterly rely on pure business skills and instinct. Whether you feel hurt or helped by globalization, youll certainly understand it better after reading this fascinating account." (Entrepreneur Magazine, May 2005

"...full of memorable characters and vivid scenes..." [and that] "Rivoli excels at making connections." (Time Magazine, March 28, 2005)

"Tshirts may not have changed the world; but this story is a useful account of how free trade and protection certainly have." (Financial Times)

"The Travels of a TShirt in the Global Economy is an excellent piece of work  a thorough, lucid and (best of all) honest examination of how politics and economics intertwine in the real world." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Engrossing.(Rivoli) goes wherever the tshirt goes and there are surprises around every cornerfull of memorable characters and vivid scenes (TIME)

"Her nuanced and fairminded approach is all the more powerful for eschewing the pretense of ideological absolutism, and her telescopic look through a single industry has all the makings of an economics classic." (New York Times)

Succeeds admirably Tshirts may not have changed the world, but this story is a useful account of how free trade and protectionism certainly have. (Financial Times)

a fascinating exploration of the history, economics and politics of world tradeThe Travels of a TShirt is a thoughtprovoking yarn that exhibits the ugly, the bad and the good of globalization, and points to the unintended positive consequences of the clash between the proponents and opponents of free trade. (DallasFort Worth StarTelegram)

a readable and evenhanded treatment of the complexities of world trade As Rivoli repeatedly makes clear, there is absolutely nothing free about free trade except the slogan. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Product Description
Praise for THE TRAVELS OF A TSHIRT IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

"Engrossing . . . (Rivoli) goes wherever the Tshirt goes, and there are surprises around every corner . . . full of memorable characters and vivid scenes."
Time

"An engaging and illuminating saga. . . . Rivoli follows her Tshirt along its route, but that is like saying that Melville follows his whale. . . . Her nuanced and fairminded approach is all the more powerful for eschewing the pretense of ideological absolutism, and her telescopic look through a single industry has all the makings of an economics classic."
The New York Times

"Rarely is a business book so well written that one would gladly stay up all night to finish it. Pietra Rivolis The Travels of a TShirt in the Global Economy is just such a pageturner."
CIO magazine

"Succeeds admirably . . . Tshirts may not have changed the world, but their story is a useful account of how free trade and protectionism certainly have."
Financial Times

"[A] fascinating exploration of the history, economics, and politics of world trade . . . The Travels of a TShirt in the Global Economy is a thoughtprovoking yarn that exhibits the ugly, the bad, and the good of globalization, and points to the unintended positive consequences of the clash between proponents and opponents of free trade."
StarTelegram (Fort Worth)

"Part travelogue, part history, and part economics, The Travels of a TShirt in the Global Economy is ALL storytelling, and in the grand style. A mustread."
Peter J. Dougherty, Senior Economics Editor, Princeton University Press author of Whos Afraid of Adam Smith?

"A readable and evenhanded treatment of the complexities of free trade . . . As Rivoli repea