- Hardcover: 360 pages
- Publisher: McClelland & Stewart; 1 edition (Oct 20 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0771046065
- ISBN-13: 978-0771046063
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 680 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #113,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
A Globe and Mail Notable Book
“In a masterful blend of facts and metaphors, Laird tells a story of bargain retailing that is interesting in its own right. . . . evocative . . . Laird lays bare the cost of those bargains in compelling detail.”
— Globe and Mail
“Gordon Laird is a reporter of rare skill and extraordinary thoughtfulness, and he has fixed his keen eye on one of the most crucial questions of this young, tumultuous century: the true cost of things.”
— Chris Turner, author of The Geography of Hope
“Gritty and entertaining . . .”
— Andrew Nikiforuk, author of Tar Sands
“An alarm call, but not alarmist.”
— Kirkus Reviews
"In grab-you-by-the-lapels stories, Laird tells you the real cost of your got-it-for-nothing storegasm."
— Greg Palast, investigative journalist and author of the New York Times bestsellers Armed Madhouse and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
“Thorough, informed and relevant . . . Neither shrill nor self-absolving, Laird quietly questions where we’ve been and where we’re headed.”
— Halifax Chronicle-Herald
“[Laird] plots a direct line from our bargain-hungry hands to disasters such as Alberta’s tar sands, human-rights abuses in China and our hollowed-out economy.”
— Canadian Geographic
“In a masterful blend of facts and metaphors, Laird tells a story of bargain retailing that is interesting in its own right. . . . evocative . . . Laird lays bare the cost of those bargains in compelling detail.”
— Globe and Mail
“Gordon Laird is a reporter of rare skill and extraordinary thoughtfulness, and he has fixed his keen eye on one of the most crucial questions of this young, tumultuous century: the true cost of things.”
— Chris Turner, author of The Geography of Hope
“Gritty and entertaining . . .”
— Andrew Nikiforuk, author of Tar Sands
“An alarm call, but not alarmist.”
— Kirkus Reviews
"In grab-you-by-the-lapels stories, Laird tells you the real cost of your got-it-for-nothing storegasm."
— Greg Palast, investigative journalist and author of the New York Times bestsellers Armed Madhouse and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
“Thorough, informed and relevant . . . Neither shrill nor self-absolving, Laird quietly questions where we’ve been and where we’re headed.”
— Halifax Chronicle-Herald
“[Laird] plots a direct line from our bargain-hungry hands to disasters such as Alberta’s tar sands, human-rights abuses in China and our hollowed-out economy.”
— Canadian Geographic
Product Description
A brilliant investigation into the true cost of our bargain economy — and the end of consumerism as we know it
Ours is the age of discount: we want more, cheaper, better. But the result is low wages, urban blight, environmental damage, labour abuses, a cookie-cutter model of progress, and now an international economic crisis. With an eye for documentary storytelling and investigative detail, Gordon Laird traces the bargain from its humble dollar-store origins to its place as global juggernaut. From Alberta’s tar sands to China’s factories, from Las Vegas to the Arctic Circle, a single question emerges: how will we survive the bargain?
Ours is the age of discount: we want more, cheaper, better. But the result is low wages, urban blight, environmental damage, labour abuses, a cookie-cutter model of progress, and now an international economic crisis. With an eye for documentary storytelling and investigative detail, Gordon Laird traces the bargain from its humble dollar-store origins to its place as global juggernaut. From Alberta’s tar sands to China’s factories, from Las Vegas to the Arctic Circle, a single question emerges: how will we survive the bargain?
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Summary of the World Today,
By
This review is from: The Price of a Bargain: The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization (Hardcover)
Laird has delivered a concise, articulate, and accessible summary of the world as it is today, and all the various buzz words that have been used by governments and the media in the last few years. If you've had your head in the sand, this is a great catch up book on all things related to the Big Box Booms, China's take over of the commercial world, the environment devastation happening world wide and in Alberta, the ubiquotus of plastics and the dangers of both globalization and deglobalization.This book should change how you look at the world. It's written with a humble passion that takes you to ground zero as Laird walks you through each of these big issues. He doesn't talk down to you, yet gives a great overview of the topics. And, it was written with a Canadian perspective, which puts it further ahead of all the other books on the market.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent exploration of a complex and important subject!,
By dsut56 - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Price of a Bargain: The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization (Hardcover)
The Price of a Bargain goes deep into a subject many people probably don't think anything about. Most people probably think that a bargain is always a good thing, but as Laird points out with great detail and well researched reporting, a bargain may not always be good for everyone. The rise of globalization, big box stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, and the interdependence of the global supply-chain have all made the world very unstable. All of these recent developments depend on cheap energy supplies to fuel the container ships that drive the globalized delivery system. They also rely on a huge supply of cheap labor. With the rise of oil prices around the world and the rising wages of Chinese workers, both of these defining assumptions are coming to an end and the implications for a consumer driven world may be catastrophic.Laird's approach is sometimes long-winded, but he focuses on the true price of a bargain by coming at the issue from many different angles. In the end, The Price of a Bargain makes a convincing case that in today's economy, we are not actually paying the true cost of what we buy. Pollution, climate change, health issues, labor unrest - all of these costs are not being reflected in the price we pay for flat-panel TV's, plastic toys, and cheap clothing shipped to us from the other side of the world. The Price of a Bargain is a wake-up call. I highly recommend you heed the buzzer and not just hit the snooze button as we have been doing for so long. |
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