In the mid-1980s, while working in Greater Richmond, I wrote international commentaries for The Times-Dispatch and the late weekly Richmond Business Journal. In September 1986, I campaigned for managed international trade and against the free trade brayed by our uncomprehending Congress. The banner headline read: “Protectionism Is Not a Dirty Word Around Richmond.“

With the foes of capitalism out in full force, there is an urgent need for clear-headed, convincing defenses of global free markets. It is with great relief, then, that I recommend The Cato Institute’s new book, Mad About Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization. This concise treatise, written by Daniel Griswold, head of Cato’s Center for Trade Studies, makes a convincing case for free trade as not only the economically superior path, but also the morally superior one.