Capital vs Culture
LaFeber was well-known and loved by his students at Cornell as a spell binding lecturer and is widely respected as an expert on the history U.S foreign relations. So at first I wondered what about Michael Jordan could possibly interest a distinguished and conscientious scholar of American history, someone not normally associated with forays into pop culture. But it's a really fascinating, thoughtful, and surprising essay. LaFeber argues that Jordan is even bigger than we think--not as a sports icon but as both a symptom and cause of revolutionary change in the global order of things. Yes, the world changed with the fall of the Berlin Wall and with the end of the cold war, he says, but the rise of Jordan is an even bigger watershed moment in world history. The real kicker comes late in the book and is somewhat understated--that there is a war between culture and capital and capital is winning. The implications of this idea are enormous and mostly frightening. This is the maelstrom Marshall McLuhan was trying to warn us about. For anyone interested in media studies, cultural criticism, or a scholarly historian's perspective on global capitalism, this book will be eye-opening and mind-expanding. And the bits about Jordan himself are pretty fascinating.

A must read for all world citizens
Just a short note to say that this is one of the most important books I have read in the past 10 years. It tackles capitalism, race, & the role of the individual in the global context in an engaging yet very well informed manner. As a History professor, I have tought this book at several major universities and it has always met with much approval from my students.

Simply Wonderful book. Definitely recommend it.
This book was absolutely riveting. Provides in-depth information about anything to do with Michael Jordan and basketball in terms of its relations to the world. You will not have any questions when done reading. Gives a whole new perspective on the marketing of the NBA and how things work and evolve. The author shows how one person can affect millions, even billions of people. It allows us a glimpse of how something small can be so big at the same time.

There Is More To Michael Jordan Then Playing Basketball...
In Michael Jordan And The New Global Capitalism, Walter LaFaber uses his ability to research and write about something to express to the readers how important advertising is to any corporation or business. For the Nike Corporation, they partnered up with Michael Jordan and worked out a plan to advertise him and their products through worldwide telecommunications. When Michael Jordan won (which was something he did a lot), the Nike Corporation won too, because everyone wanted to be "like Mike," and the only way to be "like Mike" was to buy his footwear and apparel or other Nike footwear and apparel. This book is a good awakening to anyone interested in how our economy works for big businesses, and its also a good book for anyone interested in basketball and or Michael Jordan. This is a definite must read all in all, because even if you end up not liking this book, you will be better off having read it.

Good Enough
Lafeber really shows you how putting time and effort into something can really take you far in life. I found the book to be very fascinating because it gives all the history of how basketball got started and how MJ and Nike became such powerful household names. This book is a really good read for any MJ fan who wants to learn the whole history behind him. It shows you what global advertising can do to a persons popularity. The bottom line this book is filled with tons of very interesting facts and just tells a good story, so go pick it up as soon as you can.