Fashionopolis by Dana Thomas

FASHIONOPOLIS by Dana Thomas is subtitled “The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes” and it is clearly a topic of interest to millennials and their younger counterparts in Generation Z. In fact, I have two students who independently chose to explore fast fashion for Junior Theme so far this year. Thomas is a best-selling author and frequent contributor to a number of publications on topics related to style.  In this new non-fiction work, she begins by describing the problem and noting that “in the last twenty years, the volume of clothes Americans throw away has doubled – from 7 million to 14 million tons. That equals 80 pounds per person per year.” Thomas continues, offering numerous examples to illustrate the “creative thievery, indifference to others, corruption [and] pollution” which she argues categorizes the industry. Later in the book, Thomas shares interviews with innovative practitioners and points to more efforts towards sustainability, like exploring the use of organic cotton or more natural dyes.  She also outlines efforts by Amazon (now a major player in retail apparel) to manufacture clothing on demand – after it has been ordered.

Although less practical and action-oriented than The Conscious Closet, FASHIONOPOLIS is an intriguing blend of social issues (working conditions, NAFTA, environmental impact), fashion and technology (robots who sew, new bio-fabrics, and 3D-printing). Thomas has included almost thirty pages of notes, a selected bibliography and a helpful index for researchers. We will be purchasing and pairing FASHIONOPOLIS with other relevant titles like Inconspicuous Consumption or the much older The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy when we make book recommendations on this topic.

 

Historical Fiction Ideas ...

Goodreads provides tons of ideas and lists if you are looking for historical fiction. One highly recommended title is last year’s WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by debut author Delia Owens, set in the mid-twentieth century along the North Carolina coast and combining mystery and historical fiction. Here are a couple of other more recent publications, both of which have some ties to Chicago:

THE WOMEN OF THE COPPER COUNTRY by Mary Doria Russell (The Sparrow) offers a fictionalized account of an actual miners’ strike from 1913-1914 in Calumet, Michigan on the Upper Peninsula.  Here, real life Anna Klobuchar Clemenc (called Annie Clements in the novel) heads the local Women's Auxiliary No. 15 of the Western Federation of Miners and supports efforts by workers to unionize for better conditions.  At the time, James MacNaughton was President and General Manager of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company; he is portrayed as bigoted (“how long, he wonders, before the entire American workforce is undermined and replaced by nihilists and hoodlums?”) and more concerned about efficiency than safety or personal relationships. It is a classic confrontation and there is much hardship for the miners and their families, including the infamous Italian Hall disaster where over seventy adults and children died in a stampede. The content of THE WOMEN OF THE COPPER COUNTRY is moving and some Junior Theme researchers might find this book inspirational if they are looking at labor unrest and strikes in the United States, but Russell’s choice of an omniscient point of view makes the characters seem distant to me. Russell should be acknowledged for her efforts to chronicle the story of a strong woman whose courage has been largely forgotten despite Clemenc being inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.

ASSASSIN OF SHADOWS by Lawrence Goldstone is a new mystery story set in 1901 and centered on the assassination of President McKinley near Buffalo. Harry Swayne is a Secret Service agent who, along with his subordinate Walter George, is ordered to lead the federal investigation. I liked the historical references which definitely made me curious about that era and its politicians and influencers such as Ohioan Mark Hanna. 

Readers will no doubt reflect on attitudes from that time towards police and security forces, conspiracy theories, and also about dissent and free speech since anarchists are presumed to have been involved. However, I found the relationship between Harry and Walter to be very strained and uncomfortable. They frequently trade veiled insults and almost come to blows: “Walter swatted Harry’s finger away. He often wondered if the two of them went at it, who would be left standing at the end.” That made it more difficult to empathize with these characters, although ASSASSIN OF SHADOWS did receive a starred review from Publishers Weekly. I would more heartily recommend earlier works - Used and Rare and/or Slightly Chipped - by Goldstone and his wife, Nancy.

Type R and Kids These Days

Here are a couple of new titles which should be especially interesting to our Psychology students:

TYPE R by Ama Marston and Stephanie Marston deals with “Transformative Resilience for Thriving in a Turbulent World.” The authors, a mother and daughter, note that this term is different from the traditional sense of the word and define Transformative Resilience as “the ability to learn, grow, and spring forward.” They provide examples from their own lives and from their work consulting about stress and leadership. The Marstons argue that there are six stages (seeking comfort, experiencing disruption and chaos, etc.) to this transformation as well as some essential skills (adaptability, control, purposefulness, active engagement, willingness to seek support, and openness to new information.). Suggested actions for individuals and leaders are offered. And since we all seem to face increasing uncertainty and stressors, these stories of turning adversity into growth are certainly very inspiring. They seem to blend well with the growth mindset work we have done, especially at the Northfield campus, in recent years.  If this topic interests you, look also at works dealing with resilience by Kenneth Ginsburg, Carol Dweck, or Brene Brown.

You may need some measure of resilience to read KIDS THESE DAYS by Malcolm Harris because, while this is a well-written and accessible work, Harris focuses pessimistically on how the generation of millennials (born between 1980 and 2000) has been exploited as human capital.  He says, “When you look at some major trends in the lives of American young people, there’s good evidence that the quantitative changes over the past three or four decades now constitute a meaningful qualitative rupture, one with repercussions we’ve yet to fully appreciate.” He argues that all of the homework and focus on college is a reaction to the need to keep the economy growing, yet he says wages have not grown and debt has increased for this cohort.  Harris spends a portion of the book looking at this debate about whether labor saving technology has really benefited workers or owners.  In addition, he explores the constant connection and impact of social media, increased expectations for athletes and less opportunity for professional performing artists and musicians.  KIDS THESE DAYS is packed with analysis and footnotes, providing an extremely thought-provoking look (with which readers will not always agree) from a millennial about the struggles he believes that his generation faces.