Book Club - How the World Ran Out of Everything: Inside the Global Supply Chain by Peter S. Goodman

Note: Registration opens one month in advance.

“[A] colorful and very readable look at how the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc with supply chains.” — Wall Street Journal

ABSTRACT

The last few years, particularly during the pandemic, 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. 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 global supply chain and the factors that have led to its constant, dangerous vulnerability. Through the stories of the human players who operate it, Goodman weaves a powerful argument for why reforming our supply chain is crucial. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter S. Goodman is the Global Economics Correspondent for the New York Times. He was previously the NYT’s European economics correspondent, based in London, and the national economics correspondent, based in New York, where he played a leading role in the paper’s award-winning coverage of the Great Recession, including a series that was a Pulitzer finalist. He graduated from Reed College and completed a master’s in Vietnamese history from the University of California, Berkeley.