MAKING IT IN AMERICA by Rachel Slade - Spotlight

 

Best selling author, Rachel Slade writes a moving and eye-opening look at the story of manufacturing in America, whether it can ever successfully return to our shores, and why our nation depends on it, told through the experience of one young couple in Maine as they attempt to rebuild a lost industry, ethically in her new book, MAKING IT IN AMERICA (Pantheon/PenguinRandomHouse).

Meet Ben and Whitney Waxman, two tireless idealists attempting to do the impossible: produce an American-made, union-made, all American-sourced sweatshirt—an American hoodie.

Ben spent a decade organizing workers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin, fighting for Americans at a time when national support for unions had sunk to an all-time low. Struggling with depression and a drug dependency, Ben lands back in his hometown of Portland, Maine, desperate to prove that ethical manufacturing is possible. There, he meets Whitney, a bartender wrestling with her own complicated past. In each other they see a better future, a version of the American dream they can build together.

Making It in America is a deeply personal account of one couple's quest to change the world. As they navigate private struggles, international trade wars, and a global pandemic, their story carries us across the nation and across time, from the cotton fields of Mississippi to New York City’s hollowed-out garment district to a family-owned zipper company in Los Angeles to the enormous knit-and-dye factories in North Carolina. Throughout, we grapple with what "Made in the USA" really means to Americans in the twenty-first century.

Making It in America also offers a unique look at global politics, economics, and labor through the story of textile manufacturing. It was the demand for cheap cloth that sparked the industrial revolution. It was the brutality of the textile industry that first drove workers to organize.

Making It in America reveals how profoundly manufacturing shapes all of us. Each twist and turn of the Waxmans' quest tells us how we got here, where we are now, and where we're headed—through the people that produce the fabric of our lives.

Rachel Slade spent a decade at Boston magazine and in 2015, steered the pub to a top national award. Her two-part story about Boston’s secretive planning and development agency also won national awards and laid the groundwork for Mayor Michelle Wu’s sweeping reforms to the city's planning process.

In 2016, Rachel's story for Yankee mag, a long-form narrative about the sinking of the container ship El Faro, led to the national bestselling book, Into the Raging Sea.

Into the Raging Sea earned starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly; the Maine Literary Award for nonfiction; the Massachusetts Honor Book Award; and the Mountbatten Award for Best Book from the Maritime Foundation UK. It was a NYT Notable Book, a NYT editors’ pick, an Amazon editors’ pick for Best History, and among NPR’s Best Books, Paste magazine’s best books, Longread’s best books, Inc. Magazine’s 7 Best Business Books, the Maine Edge’s favorite books, and Book Scrolling best history books. The book was adapted for a Harvard Business School case study and in 2023, Down East magazine named it one of the top 25 “New Maine Classics."

Rachel has also held editorial posts at the Boston Globe and Down East magazine.

She earned her BA in political science from Barnard College and a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. She splits her time between Brookline, Massachusetts, and Rockport, Maine.