Empty Vessel

In the astonishing trajectory of a humble barge, Empty Vessel delivers an ambitious history of the global economy, linking everything from oil-drilling and offshore finance to military deployments and mass incarceration. I've rarely read a book that so deftly entwines a single, accessible story with the broad forces of globalization. A stunningly original history, as phenomenally well-researched as it is eloquently told -- Maya Jasanoff, author of THE DAWN WATCH Kumekawa's tale of the Barge . . . is an imaginative and beautifully written allegory of the decades of globalization and the fugitive wealth it supported. What an eye-opening read! -- Charles S. Maier, Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History, Emeritus, Harvard University A captivating story-I read it like a detective novel-and at the same time a profound contribution to the history of economic, financial and material life in the contemporary globalized world -- Emma Rothschild, Jeremy and Jane Knowles Professor of History, Harvard University Kumekawa brilliantly traces the history of one vessel to make the historical forces of globalization concrete. A riveting and important read that shows the strange ties between tax havens and trade, prisons and ports. Offshore is more than a concept; it is a place. Kumekawa is the ideal guide to that place and its complicated inner workings -- Heidi Tworek, Professor of History and Public Policy and Canada Research Chair, University of British Columbia When the world went on lockdown, Ian Kumekawa took a different tack, tracking a single barge through its journey across the planet. What he discovers is the hidden material life and labor that make the global economy possible. A brilliant, unforgettable tale of our modern times -- Eric Klinenberg, author of 2020 An ingenious, marvelous book. Ian Kumekawa has captured the big economic stories of the past half-century in the perambulations of a single ship. His Vessel drifts across the globe from one major upheaval to the next, a floating, steel witness to extraction, mass production, deindustrialization, incarceration, and war. The result is a high seas picaresque through the systems that tie the modern world together -- Henry Grabar, author of PAVED PARADISE A gripping tale-of a floating prison, the worlds of global and offshore capital in which such ships are moored, and the maritime and legal infrastructures that keep such worlds afloat, even amidst the tidal waves of economic and ecological disaster -- Surabhi Ranganathan, Professor of International Law, University of Cambridge Empty Vessel, both the book and the accommodation container ship whose checkered history it unfolds, brilliantly illuminates the workings of a global offshore economy that would prefer to remain in the shadows, lingering on the margins of the law, thriving on secrecy, sleight of hand and tax avoidance. By following in the vessels' wake Kumekawa's riveting story reveals not just its physical use and functions-as accommodation for British troops, New York prisoners, oil workers, asylum seekers-but explains how the Vessel became an exemplary object caught up in global skeins/schemes of capital and finance -- John Brewer, Professor Emeritus, Caltech Division of Humanities and Social Sciences