Made In U S A

An overview of the state of manufacturing in America—both past and present—and how this sector and the jobs it creates are essential to the American economy “There's no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.” —Bill Gates In Made in the USA, Vaclav Smil powerfully rebuts the notion that manufacturing is a relic of predigital history and that the loss of American manufacturing is a desirable evolutionary step toward a pure service economy. Smil argues that no advanced economy can prosper without a strong, innovative manufacturing sector and the jobs it creates. Smil explains how manufacturing became a fundamental force behind America’s economic, strategic, and social dominance. He describes American manufacturing’s rapid rise at the end of the nineteenth century, its consolidation and modernization between the two world wars, its role as an enabler of mass consumption after 1945, and its recent decline. Some economists argue that shipping low-value jobs overseas matters little because the high-value work remains in the United States. But, asks Smil, do we want a society that consists of a small population of workers doing high-value-added work and masses of unemployed? Smil assesses various suggestions for solving America’s manufacturing crisis, including lowering corporate tax rates, promoting research and development, and improving public education. Will America act to preserve and reinvigorate its manufacturing? It is crucial to our social and economic well-being; but, Smil warns, the odds are no better than even.

The bestselling author of Where the Heart Is returns with a heartrending tale of two children in search of a place to call home. Lutie McFee's history has taught her to avoid attachments...to people, to places, and to almost everything. With her mother long dead and her father long gone to find his fortune in Las Vegas, 15-year-old Lutie lives in the god-forsaken town of Spearfish, South Dakota with her twelve-year-old brother, Fate, and Floy Satterfield, the 300-pound ex-girlfriend of her father. While Lutie shoplifts for kicks, Fate spends most of his time reading, watching weird TV shows and worrying about global warming and the endangerment of pandas. As if their life is not dismal enough, one day, while shopping in their local Wal-Mart, Floy keels over and the two motherless kids are suddenly faced with the choice of becoming wards of the state or hightailing it out of town in Floy's old Pontiac. Choosing the latter, they head off to Las Vegas in search of a father who has no known address, no phone number and, clearly, no interest in the kids he left behind. Made in the U.S.A. is the alternately heartbreaking and life-affirming story of two gutsy children who must discover how cruel, unfair and frightening the world is before they come to a place they can finally call home.

Made in U.S.A. takes a new look at American art of the 1950s and 1960s and shows us how American it was. This is a provocative study of those artists who appropriated everyday images form the world of mass media and suburban living and forced their viewers into a sometimes witty, sometimes bittersweet, confrontation with the realities of living in late twentieth-century America.

Collects America Chavez: Made In The USA (2021) #1-5. America Chavez is incredible ? her origins, her strength, her dimension-shattering star portals! But when the foundation of everything she believes is shaken, America must stand up and confront the parts of herself she's been running from. Her life is about to be shattered into a million pieces by a mysterious adversary. When her tormentor is revealed, their face will be shocking, to say the least ? but it's what they reveal that will rock her world. And then? It's just a matter of whether or not to believe them. From writer Kalinda Vazquez (Marvel's Runaways) and artist Carlos G?mez (AMAZING MARY JANE) comes an explosive, brand-new story all about what made America Chavez who she is ? and what she'll do to protect the ones she loves.

Tom Madigan, with foreword by Benny Parson, NASCAR champion. The Edelbrock Corporation emerged from a young mechanic's dream in Southern California during the earliest years of the American love affair with the automobile. One of the central figures of the hot rod culture that began before World War II and blossomed after the war, Vic Edelbrock, Sr. built his company around a simple philosophy: never overextend yourself, and never put your name on a product that hasn't been tested and proven true. When Vic Edelbrock, Jr. took over after his father's death, he stayed true to the family philosophy while incorporating progressive marketing plans to grow the company into a corporate giant. It is the last family owned automobile aftermarket company in the industry.Edelbrock Made in USA is the story of the company's growth from a simple shop at the rear of a gas station to an American institution. It is at the heart of the history of the earliest drag racers and land speed racers, it is woven into the early days of NASCAR, and it flourishes today in the cars owned by enthusiasts and ordinary drivers across America who boast Edelbrock equipment. It is the story of a company whose influence not only helped shape automotive performance, but also led the automotive aftermarket industry in addressing and conforming to the clean air and safety regulations that have emerged over the past 35 years. And it is the story of an iconic family business that has preserved its values and its spirit of independence, creativity, philanthropy, and fun over three generations.0-7603-2202-3 - 139600AP - $40.00 - $58.00 CAN '

Robert Kagan, the New York Times bestselling author of Of Paradise and Power and one of the country’s most influential strategic thinkers, reaffirms the importance of United States’s global leadership in this timely and important book. Upon its initial publication, The World America Made became one of the most talked about political books of the year, influencing Barack Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address and shaping the thought of both the Obama and Romney presidential campaigns. In these incisive and engaging pages, Kagan responds to those who anticipate—or even long for—a post-American world order by showing what a decline in America’s influence would truly mean for the United States and the rest of the world, as the vital institutions, economies, and ideals currently supported by American power wane or disappear. As Kagan notes, it has happened before: one need only to consider the consequences of the breakdown of the Roman Empire and the collapse of the European order in World War I. This book is a powerful warning that America need not and dare not decline by committing preemptive superpower suicide.

'Funny, wise, learned and compulsive' - GQ Bill Bryson turns away from travelling the highways and byways of middle America, so hilariously depicted in his bestselling The Lost Continent, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid and Notes from a Big Country, for a fast, exhilarating ride along the Route 66 of American language and popular culture. In Made in America, Bryson tells the story of how American arose out of the English language, and along the way, de-mythologizes his native land - explaining how a dusty desert hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how they were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up - as well as exposing the true origins of the words G-string, blockbuster, poker and snafu. 'A tremendously sassy work, full of zip, pizzazz and all those other great American qualities' Will Self, Independent on Sunday