Beth Macy returned to the program for the paperback release of her phenomenal investigative study of the collapse of the US furniture industry which once thrived in states like Virginia. Macy was working on a newspaper story about displaced workers when she heard about a man who had managed to keep his furniture factory running after he fought back against the flood of cheap imported furniture that had put so many American factories out of business.
This inspiring story reveals the impact that globalization has had upon this industry and how one ornery fellow managed to stem the tide and compete. He's stubborn, he's tough, he's the "factory man" of her title.
Beth Macy grew up in Urbana.
