Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local - and Helped Save an American Town

by Beth Macy

Overview

The instant New York Times bestseller about one man's battle to save hundreds of jobs by demonstrating the greatness of American business.

The Bassett Furniture Company was once the world's biggest wood furniture manufacturer. Run by the same powerful Virginia family for generations, it was also the center of life in Bassett, Virginia. But beginning in the 1980s, the first waves of Asian competition hit, and ultimately Bassett was forced to send its production overseas.

One man fought back: John Bassett III, a shrewd and determined third-generation factory man, now chairman of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co, which employs more than 700 Virginians and has sales of more than $90 million. In Factory Man, Beth Macy brings to life Bassett's deeply personal furniture and family story, along with a host of characters from an industry that was as cutthroat as it was colorful. As she shows how he uses legal maneuvers, factory efficiencies, and sheer grit and cunning to save hundreds of jobs, she also reveals the truth about modern industry in America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316231435
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	07/15/2014
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Beth Macy is the author of the widely acclaimed and bestselling books Dopesick, Truevine, and Raising Lazarus. Based in Roanoke, Virginia, for three decades, she has won more than a dozen national awards for her reporting, including a Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard. She is a winner of the 2021 George Mason Award. Beth is the creator of the Audible Original documentary Dopesick: Finding Tess.Dopesick is being adapted into an original drama by Hulu and will star Michael Keaton. 

Table of Contents

Family Tree: A Virginia Furniture Dynasty xvi

Prologue: The Dusty Road to Dalian 3

Part I

Chapter 1 The Tipoff 9

Chapter 2 The Original Outsourcer 20

Chapter 3 The Town the Daddy Rabbits Built 36

Chapter 4 Hilltop Hierarchy 47

Part II

Chapter 5 The Cousin Company 69

Chapter 6 Company Man 82

Chapter 7 Lineage and Love 94

Part III

Chapter 8 Navigating the New Landscape 105

Chapter 9 Sweet Ole Bob (SOB) 115

Chapter 10 The Mount Airy Ploy 135

Chapter 11 The Family Elbow 145

Part IV

Chapter 12 Schooling the Chinese 159

Chapter 13 Bird-Doggin' the Backwaters 172

Chapter 14 Selling the Masses 184

Part V

Chapter 15 The Storm Before the Tsunami 201

Chapter 16 Trouble in the 'Ville 214

Chapter 17 Stretching Out the Snake 232

Chapter 18 The Dalian Dance Card 250

Part VI

Chapter 19 Gathering the Troops 269

Chapter 20 Mr. Bassett Goes to Washington 286

Chapter 21 Factory Requiem 297

Part VII

Chapter 22 Million-Dollar Backlash 309

Chapter 23 Copper Wires and Pink Slips 322

Chapter 24 Shakedown Street 338

Part VIII

Chapter 25 Mud Turtle 367

Chapter 26 The Replacements 375

Chapter 27 "Sheila, Get Me the Governor!" 389

Epilogue: The Smith River Twitch 401

Acknowledgments 411

Notes 415

Index 443

Reading Group Guide 453

Editorial Reviews

…thick with rich characters, family secrets and backwoods wisdom…Macy's passion and enthusiasm are palpable on every page…her chronicle of this quest is important because she makes a complex, now universal story understandable. Macy cares about ordinary Americans in the same way Bassett does, and in the same way so many Wall Street players and corporate shareholders do not.

The New York Times Book Review - Mimi Swartz

Beth Macy…understood how lucky she was when she accidentally uncovered the great, gripping story told in Factory Man. This is Ms. Macy's first book, but it's in a class with other runaway debuts like Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit and Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers: These nonfiction narratives are more stirring and dramatic than most novels. And Ms. Macy writes so vigorously that she hooks you instantly. You won't be putting this book down.

The New York Times - Janet Maslin

★ 03/17/2014
In her first book, winner of the 2013 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award, Roanoke Times reporter Macy explores the effects of globalization on America’s furniture manufacturing industry via the story of the Bassetts, a family from Virginia, whose Bassett Furniture Company was once the world’s largest producer of wooden furniture. In the 1980s, cheap Chinese imports began to flood the U.S. market, prompting many domestic furniture makers to move their factories abroad. But John Bassett III fought back. A “larger-than-life rule breaker,” J.B. III (as he was known) hired top trade lawyer Joe Dorn and convinced members of the U.S. furniture manufacturing industry to support him in filing a petition against China for unfair trade practices, ultimately saving his company, Vaughan-Bassett (an offshoot of the family business), along with hundreds of jobs. Macy’s riveting narrative is rich in local color. It traces the history of the Bassett family and the U.S. furniture trade, from the “billowing smokestacks” of Southern towns along Route 58 to the imposing factory complex near Dalian, China, and eventually to Vietnam and Indonesia, where manufacturers sought ever-cheaper labor. Macy interviews the Bassett family, laid-off and retired workers, executives in Asia, and many others, providing vivid reporting and lucid explanations of the trade laws and agreements that caused a way of life to disappear. Agent: Peter McGuigan, Foundry Literary + Media. (July)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2014-06-15
The story of one man’s fight to save American furniture manufacturing jobs in the face of a deluge of cheap Chinese imports.In this welcome debut, winner of the 2013 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award,Roanoke Timesreporter Macy brings to life the rise of family-owned Bassett Furniture Company as the world’s largest producer of wooden furniture and John Bassett III’s epic struggle to keep his company in business amid unfair overseas business practices that forced many U.S. manufacturers to move their factories abroad. A brash, patriotic charmer fond of quoting George Patton (“When in doubt, ATTACK”), Bassett came from a long line of wealthy Virginians with “sawdust” in their veins. “The ‘fucking Chi-Comms’ were not going to tellhimhow to make furniture!” remarked one retailer. Drawing on prodigious research and interviews with a wide range of subjects, including babysitters, retired workers and Chinese executives, Macy recounts how Bassett, now in his mid-70s, mobilized the majority of American furniture manufacturers to join him in seeking U.S. government redress for unfair Chinese trade practices. The author’s brightly written, richly detailed narrative not only illuminates globalization and the issue of offshoring, but succeeds brilliantly in conveying the human costs borne by low-income people displaced from a way of life—i.e., factory jobs that their Appalachian families had worked for generations. Writing with much empathy, Macy gives voice to former workers who must now scrape by on odd jobs, disability payments and, in some cases, thievery of copper wire from closed factories. Her book is also a revealing account of the paternalistic Bassett dynasty, whose infighting was a constant diversion for everyone living in the company town. Ultimately, Bassett’s efforts saved some 700 jobs and his Vaughan-Bassett company, the nation’s largest wood bedroom furniture maker.A masterly feat of reporting.

Kirkus Reviews

"A bracing saga.... Macy is an engaging writer."—Michael Boodro, Elle Decor

"It's a must-read just for its look at what happens at home when we send jobs overseas and how we all play a role. This one is a page-turner."—DesignSponge

"A triumph.... Get Factory Man and take your time with it. It's a big ol' delicious toasted sandwich of a book."—Kurt Rheinheimer, The Roanoker

"I've been reading Beth Macy for years. She is a great American writer. She sees everything, all the precious detail. A few years back, as the world was collapsing around us, she did a story on the temp who was answering phones at a hotline for those in financial hot water. The temp was this immense hero in all these ways that nobody else would have ever recognized. Of course, Macy never called her a hero. She just let the story do the work."—Roland Lazenby, author of Michael Jordan

Beth Macy "got the story of a lifetime. And she wrote this book in the "Seabiscuit" tradition, combining the power of truth-that's-stranger-than-fiction with the colorful verve of a novel."—Janet Maslin, New York Times

From the Publisher

Kristin Kalbli’s pleasant narration guides the listener through the ins and outs of the Bassetts’ story…Kalbli’s use of accents to portray Bassett family members and other locals helps to set the scene.”

AudioFile

The unlikely hero of Factory Man is a determined, ornery, and absolutely indomitable...business man. He's the head of a family furniture company and damned if he's going to be pushed around. Beth Macy has given us an inspiring and engaging tale for our times, but not the expected one.

Alex Jones

John Bassett's story has everything. An extraordinary dynasty, a relevant and inspiring message, and one of the best heroes I've read about in years. It works on every level, from the most personal betrayal to the realities of the global economy, from the struggle of one worker in a small Appalachian town to the future of our cultural as a whole. Part of me wishes I'd found John Bassett III, because this is powerful stuff, but it's obvious the story is in excellent hands with Beth Macy. Sometimes the right writer comes along with the right story at the right time. This is clearly that book.

author of Dewey and Until Tuesday Bret Witter

A damn fine story.”

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Rick Bragg

Beth Macy has done a masterful job in personalizing the biggest American economic story of our time—how to save American jobs in the 21st Century. John Bassett III is a cinematic figure and quintessential American, battling for his company, his town and his country.

author of The Center Holds: Obama and His Enem Jonathan Alter

Macy's down-to-earth writing style and abundance of personal stories from manufacturing's beleaguered front lines make her work a stirring critique of globalization.

Booklist Carl Hays

The epic struggle of Virginia furniture manufacturer John Bassett III (JBIII) to save his business has given crackerjack reporter Beth Macy the book she was born to write. Longtime champion of the downtrodden and the working American, Macy brings globalization down to a human scale, giving a real voice and a recognizable face to everyone involved, from factory worker to government official to Chinese importer. Thorough reporting and brilliant writing combine to make FACTORY MAN an exciting, fast-paced account of a quintessentially American story that affects us all.

author of Guests on Earth Lee Smith

A triumph.... Get Factory Man and take your time with it. It's a big ol' delicious toasted sandwich of a book.

The Roanoker Kurt Rheinheimer

[Macy] has found a terrifically rich subject for her investigative reporting…They give out awards for this kind of thing.”

New York Times

John Bassett’s story has everything. An extraordinary dynasty, a relevant and inspiring message, and one of the best heroes I’ve read about in years.”

New York Times bestselling author Bret Witter

Macy’s down-to-earth writing style and abundance of personal stories… make her work a stirring critique of globalization.”

Booklist

Beth Macy sees twists and subtleties that other journalists can't see, and she writes about the world around her with grit, honesty and remarkable grace. She has a police detective's diligence and determination, a poet's way with words, and a born storyteller's gift for spot-on narrative.

author of The Legal Limit Martin Clark

I've been reading Beth Macy for years. She is a great American writer. She sees everything, all the precious detail. A few years back, as the world was collapsing around us, she did a story on the temp who was answering phones at a hotline for those in financial hot water. The temp was this immense hero in all these ways that nobody else would have ever recognized. Of course, Macy never called her a hero. She just let the story do the work.

author of Michael Jordan Roland Lazenby

Spirited, meticulously researched and well-written.... A page-turning tale that covers the company's history, family squabbles and the black-sheep son who rescued the company through pluck, persistence and political wrangling.

Success Magazine Margaret Jaworski

A truly remarkable work of researched narrative nonfiction…a book that leaves you feeling better for having read it.”

San Francisco Chronicle

In a world of blue-collar victims, where logging chains seal forever the doors of mills and factories from the Rust Belt to the Deep South, Beth Macy's award-winning look at one furniture maker's refusal to give in is a breath of hope-and a damn fine story to read. The book tracks John Bassett's fight to keep American jobs on this side of borders and oceans, and keeps one American town from becoming a place of empty storefronts and FOR SALE signs.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Most They Eve Rick Bragg

In a compelling and meticulously researched narrative, Macy follows the story from the Blue Ridge Mountains to China and Indonesia, chronicling [John] Bassett's tireless work to revive his company, and with it, an American town.

Garden & Gun

In a class with other runaway debuts like Laura Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit" and Katherine Boo's "Behind the Beautiful Forevers": These nonfiction narratives are more stirring and dramatic than most novels. And Ms. Macy writes so vigorously that she hooks you instantly. You won't be putting this book down.

New York Times Janet Maslin

It's a must-read just for its look at what happens at home when we send jobs overseas and how we all play a role. This one is a page-turner.

DesignSponge

Bassett Furniture Company in Virginia was once prominent in the production of wood furniture—until Chinese factories began flooding the American market with more cheaply priced goods. Kristin Kalbli’s pleasant narration guides the listener through the ins and outs of the Bassetts’ story—family history in the first half of the work segues into John Bassett III’s attempt to fight offshoring and save jobs in the struggling Blue Ridge Mountain region. Kalbli’s use of accents to portray Bassett family members and other locals helps to set the scene. She sensitively depicts the plight of displaced workers as well as “JBIII’s” determination to preserve the local way of life. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2014 - AudioFile

Bassett Furniture Company in Virginia was once prominent in the production of wood furniture—until Chinese factories began flooding the American market with more cheaply priced goods. Kristin Kalbli’s pleasant narration guides the listener through the ins and outs of the Bassetts’ story—family history in the first half of the work segues into John Bassett III’s attempt to fight offshoring and save jobs in the struggling Blue Ridge Mountain region. Kalbli’s use of accents to portray Bassett family members and other locals helps to set the scene. She sensitively depicts the plight of displaced workers as well as “JBIII’s” determination to preserve the local way of life. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2014 - AudioFile