When Joe Bennett bought a six-pack of underwear in his local supermarket for $5.60, he wondered who on earth could be making any money, let alone profit, from the exchange. How many processes and middlemen are involved? Where and how is the underwear made? And who decides on the absorbent qualities of the gusset?

Joe embarks on an odyssey to the new factory of the world, China, to trace his underwear back to their source. Along the way he discovers the extraordinarily balanced and intricate web of contacts and exchanges that makes global trade possible.

Funny, wise and insightful, it is a wonderful and timely picture of the developed world¹s dependence on China to make all the bits and pieces of our lives? everything from toothbrushes to overhead projectors and artificial kidneys.