Structure

“Factory Man” by Beth Macy is separated into eight main parts. Part I consists of four chapters and covers the early days of Bassett Furniture – its great successes and dominance in the U.S. furniture-making industry.

Part II covers the emergence of John Bassett III into the company business.

Part III tells John’s story after being elbowed out of Bassett furniture and his rightful position as company head.

Part IV describes the new reality when globalization began to seep into the U.S. furniture manufacturing industry in the form of Asian manufacturers who undersold their American counter parts.

Part V describes the utter destruction that the Asian interlopers were causing to domestic furniture manufacturing, the furniture worker and small towns of the south whose very existence relied on furniture-making factories.

Part VI covers John Bassett’s leadership in fighting the Asian insurgency and standing up to...