Not everyone embraces the "American Way." But as historian Walter LaFeber demonstrates in this highly original look at the effects of global capitalism, not everyone has a choice. Using powerful communications satellites in the 1980s and, later, unbridled capital, transnational corporations such as McDonald's and Nike and their media-mogul counterparts have infiltrated cultures from Paris to Beijing, understanding perfectly that what the world sees the world buys (in this case, Big Macs and anything plastered with a Nike swoosh). Of course, it helps when hoops legend Michael Jordan--the world's most idolized athlete--is pitching your products. His influence is pervasive: "McDonald's, blaring Michael Jordan's endorsement, operated in 103 nations and fed one percent of the world's population each day. 'Within the East Asian urban environment,' one historian of the firm notes, 'McDonald's fills a niche once occupied by the teahouse, the neighborhood shop, the street-side stall, and the park bench.'"

LaFeber transitions smoothly from Michael Jordan biography to socioeconomic commentary, first exploring Jordan as the great American hero, then turning a critical eye on Nike and its shoddy overseas labor practices. Jordan can certainly sell shoes, but at what cost? In the final chapter heading, LaFeber asks whether Michael Jordan is the "Greatest Endorser of the Twentieth Century" or "An Insidious Form of Imperialism." He presents evidence of both, but ultimately The New Global Capitalism becomes less about Jordan's marketing prowess than America's influence over the world's consumer habits, and, subsequently, the havoc that power can wreak. LaFeber's short (164 pages), lucid study gives readers a fresh perspective on the battle between capital and culture. Recommended.


From Publishers Weekly
What could be more awe inspiring than the image of Michael JordanAshaved head shining, tongue waggling, basketball cockedAhanging in the air as he glides in to dunk? Try global communication technology that allows kids in the Canary Islands to watch NBA games in real time and use the Internet to order Nike shoes so they can be like Mike. In assessing the recently retired star's ascent from basketball phenom to international marketing phenomenon, LaFeber (The Clash, etc.) views Jordan as the harbinger of a new kind of capitalism fueled by information-age media. It's a world in which American transnational companies like Nike have learned to establish brand consciousness with worldwide social and economic impact. Jordan's career corresponded with and was fueled by the emergence of CNN, the Internet and aggressive worldwide marketing. To put Jordan in context, LaFeber links the history of basketball with America's century of economic dominance and writes entertainingly about the development of the sport into a multi-billion-dollar business with licensing spinoffs. He also asks tough questions about Jordan's responsibility as a public figure ("politically neutered," in Arthur Ashe's phrase) and his muted, awkward reaction to Nike's much criticized labor practices in developing countries. Readers who thought that some necessary cultural criticism was missing from David Halberstam's Playing for Keeps (Forecasts, Jan. 18) will find that LaFeber, a Cornell historian, has written the chapter Halberstam neglected and has expanded it into a thought-provoking reflection on the relationship between Jordan and globalization. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
This marvelously original cultural history by eminent historian LaFeber (history, Cornell; The Clash: A History of U.S.-Japan Relations) uses the development and growth of basketball to examine a broad range of issues, including globalization and the changing role of transnational corporations; the impact of Michael Jordan as a global media star and the American dominance of global media; the nature of U.S. power in the post-Cold War era; and the probable consequences of American cultural imperialism at home and abroad. Along the way, he eloquently describes both the North Carolina legacy of Michael Jordan and the impact of David Stearn as National Basketball Association commissioner, examining how their links to transnational entities such as Nike have blown apart governmental regulations and traversed geographical boundaries on the feet of millions. A tightly written treatise on what is wrong in the world today that should find avid readers in both public and academic libraries.-ANorman B. Hutcherson, Beale Memorial Lib., Bakersfield, CA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Jay R. Mandle
[LaFeber] understands the nearly universal celebrity of Michael Jordan and the global profitability of the sportswear manufacturer Nike as something ... insidious.


From Kirkus Reviews
Michael Jordan is a potent factor in the global economy, by way of transnational enterprises like footgear producer Nike, as LaFeber (History/Cornell; The Clash: A History of US-Japan Relations, 1997, etc.) demonstrates. In this slight book, LaFeber illustrates the synergy that joins the good and graceful jock and his sneakers with American cultural dominance in the world. Inner-city kids kill for expensive shoes, and Chinese students dress in Chicago Bulls jackets, all in a kind of homage to Jordan. Beginning with the history of basketball (neatly coeval with American ascendancy worldwide), we are brought to the advent of the remarkable Jordan (neatly coeval with the rise of Nike's Phil Knight, the Bill Gates of shoemakers). Knight bought Jordan's product endorsement, and basketball and advertising were irrevocably fused. Professional sports and marketing became one grand worldwide enterprise. The swoosh on Air Jordans was the ensign that led the cultural conquest of the planet as communications techniques blossomed. Indeed, LaFeber makes much ado, with little detail, about the new post-industrial, information-technological revolution.'' His real interest is in Jordan's career. The author mentions the star's missteps and shows how he willingly became in thrall to Wheaties, McDonalds, Rayovac Batteries, Gatorade, and other corporate sponsors in addition to Nike, while he promotes the idea of Jordan as the best athlete ever. Literal, monetary meaning was given to the tag ``most valuable player,'' as the athlete's net worth grew. Michael Jordan is certainly a winning personality, an international celebrity with a spectacular gift. Still, it's all just hype that has Jordan and Nike joined at the hip pocket. Though certainly real, the story isn't news. Tall people, running and leaping, bouncing balls and throwing them, have assumed mythic proportions that are marketable. In the midst of all the promotion that makes talented athletes highly paid shills, it's easy to lose perspective. This text, somewhat inflated, provides just a little. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Douglas Brinkley
Bold, riveting....Brilliantly illuminates how hyper-US capitalism has spread its financial wings around the globe.


Barbara Rudolph, Chicago Tribune
LaFeber brings an impressive intellect to bear on his subject.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

From basketball prodigy to international phenomenon to seductive commercial ideal, Michael Jordan is the supreme example of how American corporations have used technology in a brazen, massively wired new world to sell their products in every corner of the globe. In recent years, mass protests have failed to check globalization's spread. Indeed, Walter LaFever argues, the horrors of September 11th have to be understood in the context of globalization's causes and effects. His often-scathing examination of Nike and its particular dominion over the global marketplace links with the story of Michael Jordan and professional basketball to open a revealing window on American society today. LaFeber's timely analysis shows how the devices of triumphant capitalism, coupled with high-tech telecommunications, are conquering the nations of the world, one mind - one pair of feet - at a time.

SYNOPSIS

LaFeber (history, Cornell U.) uses professional basketball as an example of the processes of cultural imperialism in the age of globalization. The iconic stature gained by basketball star and Nike endorser Michael Jordan is analyzed in reference to the global reach of the media, Nike's marketing power, and the American government's efforts to aid American capitalism. Although Jordan stands as the centerpiece of the discussion, LaFeber frequently diverges into discussions of such topics as the profit motives of the National Basketball Association, efforts to resist cultural imperialism around the world, and the impact of communication and information technology advances. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Douglas Brinkley

Bold,riveting....Brilliantly illuminates how hyper-US capitalism has spread its financial wings around the globe.

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

...LaFeber poses the question: Is Jordan simply a great salesman or does he represent what some see as an insidious form of cultural imperialism? If the answer is the latter, what are the implications for America's relations to the world? The prospect of getting answers to these questions is intriguing enough to draw the reader through much material familiar to any basketball fan or reader of the financial pages....[T]he book is more about Jordan than the effects of what he has done. —The New York Times

Barbara Rudolph - Chicago Tribune

LaFeber brings an impressive intellect to bear on his subject.

Owen Parker

A fascinating book on the dynamics of sport, culture, and capitalism in an era of American dominance, with LaFeber posing a number of important questions regarding the future.

—Time Out London, 6-13 October 1999

Publishers Weekly