Globaloney: Unraveling the Myths of Globalization - Softcover

Veseth, Michael

3.24

21 ratings by Goodreads

9780742536593: Globaloney: Unraveling the Myths of Globalization

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0742536599 ISBN 13: 9780742536593

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006

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What's the truth about globalization . . . and what's just 'globaloney?' Michael Veseth believes that much of what students understand about globalization is really globaloney-bombast built on a few vivid images and exceptional cases that distort more than they reveal about the world around us. Globaloney separates rhetoric from reality by snapping close-ups of the classic globalization images and comparing them with unexpected alternative visions that resonate with culturally savvy college-aged readers. Do Michael Jordan and Nike really define globalization? Why not David Beckham and World Cup soccer? Is globalization McDonalds and McWorld? Why isn't the global wine market a better metaphor? And what can we learn about how globalization works at the grassroots by comparing the elitist, publicity-hungry Slow Food movement with the massive but virtually invisible international trade in worn and wrinkled second-hand clothes? Veseth convincingly explains how all globalization is local, why the French so love to hate it, and what Adam Smith has to do with it. The book shows why it is dangerous to generalize about globalization and, through its wealth of examples, demonstrates that globalization is not one big thing but many different yet related, particular things. An ideal supplement for courses on international political economy and international relations, Globaloney is an irreverent but important look at how globalization really works.

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About the Author:

Michael Veseth is Michael Veseth is the Robert G. Albertson Professor of International Political Economy at the University of Puget Sound and author of many books that approach national and global issues from innovative and controversial angles, including Selling Globalization and Mountains of Debt, the latter of which was reviewed in The New York Times Book Review and The Economist. Veseth is the founding director of the international political economy program at Puget Sound and an academic advisor to the interactive educational website for the PBS/WGBH series, 'Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy.' He lives in Tacoma, Washington and lectures widely.

Review:

In Globaloney, Michael Veseth achieves a rare combination: he conveys important economic arguments in a vivid and highly entertaining style. For anyone trying to assess the goods and bads of headlong progress toward a global economy, and trying to sort bogus fears from genuine reasons for concern, this book is a great place to start. (Fallows, James)

With his customary verve, Michael Veseth has launched a passionate broadside against what he calls the 'myths' of globalization. Not everyone will agree with his unorthodox views; many will be provoked. But this book deserves to reach a wide audience. In a style both witty and easily accessible, Veseth uses familiar elements of popular culture to challenge conventional thinking. Readers will feast on Globaloney. (Benjamin J. Cohen)

Michael Veseth's Globaloney is the perfect down-to-earth primer for undergraduates trying to understand the debate over globalization. By focusing on commodities within every student's reach—baloney, Michael Jordan, and soccer balls—Veseth transparently links abstract global processes to real life. (Herman Schwartz)

Here's a book to break the spell cast by simplistic economic creeds from both left and right. If you want to make fresh discoveries about the global marketplace, Michael Veseth is your man. Don't let his lively, informal prose style fool you. He has a scientist's keen nose for tracking what's true back to its native lair: that wild thicket of fact where prevailing theory just won't fit. (Howard Cutler)

This book presents a novel and engaging critical analysis that incorporates insights from political economy into a story that will appeal to a wide readership. (Wiener, Jarrod)

Michael Veseth has written an accessible book that focuses on the inherent complexity of globalization. With clear language, gentle wit, and incisive logic, Veseth skewers the simple myths we like to believe about the interconnectedness of the world around us. However, Globaloney is more than just an aid to clear thinking, and complexity is hardly a virtue in its own right. Veseth's real aim is to help us better understand the many and conflicting ways that globalization touches on different societies and individuals. Understanding his argument is a necessary first step in the development of a 21st-century worldview. (Jones, Erik)

Michael Veseth continues his amiable progress through the enchanted, topsy-turvy world of contemporary economic mythology. A real economist with an observant mind, he provides a series of suave and charming tales from his travels through the real world—stories whose subjects range from Adam Smith to Michael Jordan, from soccer to the French, from mediocre mass food to global good wine. Skillfully blended together, these chase away the goblins of globaloney and leave us with a nicer world than we had thought. (Calleo, David P.)

Michael Veseth's imaginative account of the varieties of globalization demands the attention of both scholars and students of the world economy. Through original case studies and deeply informed analyses, Veseth presents a fresh picture of a refreshingly diverse and serendipitous globalization. While the media, activists and policymakers generally paint globalization with a single brush, Veseth draws on a broad palette to puncture popular myths and promotes critical thinking. Globaloney is an important new work that advances our understanding of globalization and its effect on society and culture as well as business and finance. (G. Pascal Zachary)

Engaging, illuminating, and thought-provoking. (International Review Of Modern Sociology)

Using a term coined by Clare Boothe Luce in 1943 for Vice President Henry Wallace's foreign policy, Veseth critiques today's rhetoric of globalization. He uses case studies and economic concepts to help readers understand globalization's basis in finance and its many complications. Recommended particularly for academic libraries supporting programs in business and economics; libraries should consider purchasing Veseth's previous work as well. Both titles aim to have readers 'think out of the box' when it comes to the concept of globalization. With a valuable extensive bibliography. (Library Journal)

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