Beth Macy Books in Order

As furniture production moves overseas, Virginia manufacturer John Bassett III fights to keep his factory and its jobs alive. Beth Macy follows his family, business tactics and legal battles to examine globalization’s effects on an American industrial community.

Beth Macy investigates the lives of George and Willie Muse, Black brothers taken from rural Virginia and exhibited in circuses. Their mother’s effort to bring them home unfolds against the exploitation, racism and limited choices of the Jim Crow South.

Beth Macy follows outreach workers, bereaved families and activists responding to America’s overdose crisis. Their efforts to save lives and demand accountability reveal both the obstacles facing people with addiction and the community work undertaken where institutions have failed.

Returning to her Ohio hometown after her mother’s death, Beth Macy investigates how a once-supportive community became more divided and precarious. Personal memories meet reporting on disappearing jobs, weakened schools, lost local news and the people living through those changes.