The Life and Death of an American Factory
by Bill Bamberger and Cathy N. Davidson
Though it was a ripple compared to massive layoffs at IBM and AT&T, 203 people lost their jobs when the 111-year-old White Furniture Company in North Carolina shut down in 1993. Tracing the individual toll of such events is this book's noble aim, but Closing doesn't fully deliver. Since Davidson assembled the story from interviews months after the layoffs, it lacks the immediacy of on-scene reporting. More effective are such stark photographs as Bamberger's shot of an ashen-faced White employee signing severance papers. (Double Take/Norton, $27.50)
Bottom Line: Sobering
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