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Public Books ·For the curious

You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Supply Chains!

by Imani Radney

Published 2026-07-22 15:00:00+00:00

How much of the history of empire is still moving through the boxes on the doorstep?

0:00 / 14:43 · Narrator Gacrux

Context

A man in an unbuttoned Oxford shirt froths at the mouth on a television screen, promising a world where money moves without friction. Writing for Public Books on 22 July 2026, the author looks past the smooth glass of a banking app to the messy reality of global supply chains. Susan Zieger’s history of global trade connects colonial trade routes to the gig workers and illegal mineral markets that keep the economy turning. These logistical nightmares aren't glitches; they are the hidden gears that make the modern world run.

Show notes

A review of Susan Zieger’s Logistics and Power, tracing the movement of goods and people from colonial trade to modern space exploration. The book argues that global supply chains depend on an inseparable mix of legal trade and hidden, illegal markets. Using examples from Victorian literature and the gig economy, it describes how these systems organize daily life and maintain economic power.

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