Spend an evening at the library with journalist Beth Macy as she shares the stories behind her New York Times bestselling book, Factory Man.

Beth Macy is the author of the Lukas Prize-winning Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local — and Helped Save an American Town. New York Times critic Janet Maslin called the nonfiction narrative “an illuminating, deeply patriotic David vs. Goliath book.”

A longtime reporter who specializes in outsiders and underdogs, Macy has won more than a dozen national journalism awards, including a Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard in 2010. Among the marginalized groups she has chronicled for newspapers and magazines are Hispanic immigrants, African refugees, caregivers for the elderly, veterans with PTSD and displaced factory workers.

 

Factory Man traces the aftereffects of globalization in small communities throughout America. Macy hones in on the outlier story of John Bassett III, who used grit, cunning and sheer will to compete against China — to keep his Galax, Virginia, factory going when almost every other wood-furniture maker in America closed up shop and imported cheaper imports instead. By unveiling shocking truths about American business, Factory Man raises a flag for the return of made-in-America products.

Macy has been published in Oprah magazine, Parade, The New York Times, Salon and Christian Science Monitor. For two decades, she was the families beat reporter at The Roanoke (Va.) Times, where many of her longer pieces originated. Her approach to storytelling: Report from the ground up, establish trust, be patient, find stories that tap into universal truths. Eat the posole. Get out of your ZIP code. To do good work, be a human first.

This community talk is free.

About the Library Author Series
Bud Werner Memorial Library presents an ongoing program of author talks throughout the year. These are free community events held in Library Hall, where a diverse award-winning range of visiting authors speak about their literary works and their writing processes. Each talk is followed by a Q&A and an opportunity to have authors sign copies of  their books.

Books will be available for sale and author signing courtesy of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore.