Dan Griswold does an excellent job debunking plenty of myths about free trade and globalization in a friendly, easy to read way that appeals directly to the average American. Although opponents of trade love to use anecdotes and tug on our heartstrings with depressing stories of layoffs and factory closings, Griswold makes sure to back up his assertions with facts and hard data (in addition to some compelling anecdotes of his own). There's no cherry picking of statistics from certain years, but rather a complete picture of who gains and who loses from trade. He directly addresses the fallacies in the points frequently brought up on evening news broadcasts that real wages have stagnated in recent decades and that our country just isn't manufacturing much of anything anymore.
He battles protectionists right on their own turf and very convincingly shows that trade barriers in fact have a very negative effect on our country's poorest. Griswold delves into a little public choice theory to explain how our regressive tariff schedule came to be in the first place, and shows the benefits of free trade are often not very visible, but very real. He also convincingly breaks down why our trade deficit with China is exaggerated, and how even for protectionists it can still be patriotic to buy an iPod made from parts from at least a dozen other countries.
If I had to recommend one book for any of my friends to read about trade, this would no doubt be it. It hits every relevant point on the issue, providing engaging, fun to read, and easy to understand arguments. I'm an economics major, and even after taking plenty of classes dealing with international trade, I still came away from this book learning some valuable new things myself.
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