By taking this heart-rending journey into his own luminous past and the more remote and sombre past of the lumber-town where he grew up, Al Sandine has masterfully laid bare some of the most crucial issues facing America and the world today. An important, accessible, daring book, of interest to anyone puzzled and outraged by the dilemmas and secrets of globalisation. Upon visiting his hometown of Coos Bay on Oregon's rainy coast in 1998, the author was shocked by the transformation of the major lumber port that he recalled from childhood into an economic disaster zone. This book tells the story of how corporate greed destroyed a way of life. Blending historical records with political passion, Plundertown, USA provides a regional, national, and global context for the area's decline and points the way to a better future for other places like Coos Bay.