Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism

Amazon.com Review\nWhen U.S. citizens were urged to "buy American" in the early 1930s in order to boost the national economy, African American thinkers such as Robert Abbott were quick to point out the irony: "Certainly we'll buy America first," he wrote, and went on to list the many products he'd now be buying--like steak dinner in a restaurant and theater tickets--which he had never been allowed to buy because of segregation laws. Not all Americans were as savvy as Abbott, however, and a tradition of "economic nationalism" that excluded from free trade almost as many within the borders of the United States as it did without enjoyed some success in those years, as it had in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Post-segregation, "Buy American" has become, among other things, an empty slogan for businesses who wish to appeal to patriotic sensibilities (like Wal-Mart, which just happens to also have "Buy Canadian" and "Buy Mexican" campaigns for its stores in those countries). In Buy American, Dana Frank advocates a "celebration" of the democratic ideal of such economic movements while refocusing the idea of "protectionism" to boost not simply corporate profits but the global interests of working people. This book is ripe with ideas, and so engagingly written that even chapters on 18th-century trade wars and 19th-century tariffs make for lively reading. --Maria Dolan\nAre imports really to blame for disappearing American jobs? Labor historian Dana Frank demonstrated how "Buy American" campaigns are not a new idea, tracing the history and politics of economic nationalism from the American Revolution to the present. The entertaining story is full of surprises, including misguided heroes, chilling racism, and more than a few charlatans. Frank contributes a much-needed new approach to the whole debate between free trade and protectionism, a strategy that would serve the needs of workers instead of the interests of corporations and economic elites.\nFrom Library Journal\nIn this provocative and intelligent book, Frank (American studies, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz) examines the historical and socioeconomic roots of "Buy American" campaigns, analyzing the consequences for working people with surprising drama. "Buy American" campaigns date as far back as the Boston Tea Party. They also, as Frank illustrates through case studies involving William Randolph Hearst, Sam Walton, and the U.S. labor movement, have become a raison d'?tre for racism, a front for private interests, and a means of undermining working-class democracy. Frank does an excellent job of creating articulate arguments out of a complex blend of history, economics, and current events. Her call for a new approach to foreign economic relationsAone that promotes decent labor standards for workers worldwide and puts limits on capital mobilityAwill not meet with everyone's approval but should provoke stimulating discussion. Recommended for large public and academic libraries.ADonna L. Schulman, Cornell Univ. ILR Lib., New York
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.\nFrom Booklist\nThe call to buy American-made products and protect U.S. jobs is nearly as old as the nation, dating back to the Boston Tea Party. Frank explores the historical and political context of the occasional "import panic attack(s)" that hit the country. In a chapter examining alternatives to "Buy Americanism," Frank focuses on internal racial issues and how they affect worker perspectives. In the 1930s Americans of African and Chinese descent wanted to embrace their international ties, not indulge in xenophobic economic policies. Black newspapers scorned the patriotism implied by the buy-American movement at a time when racial segregation was rampant. Frank also examines how unions have used the rallying cry to leverage larger salaries for workers, sometimes coming dangerously close to blaming overseas workers for U.S. economic woes. Even large corporations, inclu