LEVI'S CHILDREN
DUST JACKET BLURBS: 

James Fallows:

Levi's Children is a careful, thorough, and provocative examination of the complex relationship between free economic exchange and the free exercise of political rights. At one level, it's the story of the surprising obstacles a group of well-intentioned business leaders encountered. At another, it is a guide to the obstacles likely to occur in relations between the developed and developing world and in particular, between the United States and China. Anyone curious about the effect of world commerce on world welfare in the broadcast sense will find this a valuable book.

Orville Schell:

Levi's Children is a well-told and fascinating story of Levi Strauss's efforts to keep ethical practices integrated into its overall strategy for doing business around the world. As the process of globalization proceeds apace, it is a tale that corporate leaders, diplomats, and rights activities alike will find close to the heart of the matter.

Peter Maass:
Karl Schoenberger has written an important book that sheds new light on the complicated intersection of human rights and global business. By scrutinizing the difficulties encountered by Levi Strauss as it seeks to follow an ethical course in turbulent times of globalization, Schoenberger takes readers on an illuminating journey through the inner reaches of corporate America and the outer reaches of Third World sweat shops. Amid the hyperbole in the media over the costs and benefits of globalization, Schoenberger has written a book that clarifies the dilemmas and points the way toward an equitable future for everyone on the economic food chain.

 

ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS:

Over the last decade, ugly allegations of corporate complicity in human-rights violations have exploded into one of the most controversial issues of our time. Companies are being held responsible by human-rights advocates for the injustices that are the unintended side effects of economic globalization: union repression in China, forced labor in Burma, child workers in Pakistan, and sweatshop abuse throughout the developing world.

Using the story of Levi Strauss & Company as a guide, Karl Schoenberger offers a highly readable assessment of the challenge that the human-rights scourge poses to international business. Schoenberger is sensitive to the interests of activists, politicians, and multinationals, and as a result his call for active corporate engagement and rigorous accountability in promoting the rights of overseas workers carries enormous resonance. Simultaneously impassioned and evenhanded, Levi's Children is a work of profound importance, one that may help us chart our course in the next century. "Thorough, well-informed and chatty ... Schoenberger's conclusion is intriguing." says the Los Angeles Times Book Review