By the New York Times’s Global Economics Correspondent an extraordinary journey to understand
the worldwide supply chain — exposing both the fascinating pathways of manufacturing and
transportation that bring products to your doorstep and the ruthless business logic that has
left local communities at the mercy of a complex and fragile network for their basic
necessities. "A tale that will change how you look at the world." —Mark Leibovich Named a Best
Book of the Year by Foreign Policy and The Aspen Institute * Longlisted for the Porchlight
Business Book Award How does the wealthiest country on earth run out of protective gear in the
middle of a public health catastrophe? How do its parents find themselves unable to locate
crucially needed infant formula? How do its largest companies spend billions of dollars making
cars that no one can drive for a lack of chips? The last few years have radically highlighted
the intricacy and fragility of the global supply chain. Enormous ships were stuck at sea
warehouses overflowed and delivery trucks stalled. The result was a scarcity of everything
from breakfast cereal to medical devices from frivolous goods to lifesaving necessities. And
while the scale of the pandemic shock was unprecedented it underscored the troubling reality
that the system was fundamentally at risk of descending into chaos all along. And it still is.
Sabotaged by financial interests loss of transparency in markets and worsening working
conditions for the people tasked with keeping the gears turning our global supply chain has
become perpetually on the brink of collapse. In How the World Ran Out of Everything
award-winning journalist Peter S. Goodman reveals the fascinating innerworkings of our supply
chain and the factors that have led to its constant dangerous vulnerability. His reporting
takes readers deep into the elaborate system showcasing the triumphs and struggles of the
human players who operate it—from factories in Asia and an almond grower in Northern California
to a group of striking railroad workers in Texas to a truck driver who Goodman accompanies
across hundreds of miles of the Great Plains. Through their stories Goodman weaves a powerful
argument for reforming a supply chain to become truly reliable and resilient demanding a
radical redrawing of the bargain between labor and shareholders and deeper attention paid to
how we get the things we need. From one of the most respected economic journalists working
today How the World Ran Out of Everything is a fiercely smart deeply informative look at how
our supply chain operates and why its reform is crucial—not only to avoid dysfunction in our
day to day lives but to protect the fate of our global fortunes.
