The Localist: Think Independent, Buy Local, and Reclaim the American Dream

Carrie Rollwagen has a conversationalist style that comes from her years of experience writing blogs. It is one that makes you feel welcome in her thoughts and makes for easy reading. She also came up with a good idea to get people to be interested in her ideas and try to change the way Americans and specifically Christians shop. I was excited to read about her adventure in local shopping.I’m impressed with the idea of the book but lacks perfect execution. I wish it had more of her story shopping locally and the adventures she had at local stores. They were few and far between and mostly about how she could not find office supplies at a local shop. I wanted more of those because she shined in those moments. If she had I would have given it a four star.It started with a call that maybe we should explore our shopping habits and see the arguments for shopping from locally owned stores rather than big box stores. It is almost a convincing argument and one that in the ned says we do not have to avoid big box stores completely but only localish shopping.My two big problems with the book though is that one she does not reference the sources in anyway in the actual book where they are found. She uses lots of studies and says lots of facts but the only place you can find the source is at the end of the book listed under resources. It is more of a general list rather than actually saying that this fact came from this source. A book is not a blog and sources must be given better credit than just a cursory mention in the back. The other big problem is that she gets really preachy in the middle of the book. She harps upon large businesses like Amazon after she starts the book discussing how big box can coexist with independents. And while she gets preachy she shows that she does not understand everything about the economy that she is critiquing.The book though did open my eyes to another way of life and that maybe I should shop at more local places even though it is limited in my smaller town. A good try at getting people to start shopping local and one that should get people to question their current shopping habits.

I enjoyed following Carrie's Shop Small blog a few years back, about the year of shopping locally that her book is based on, so I was looking forward to having an answer to all of the questions to the questions I had about shopping locally and why it made such a difference. I fell into the popular camp of knowing I should shop locally (much like knowing I should floss), but also wanting to buy things as cheaply as possible and not minding free two day shipping while we're at it. I procrastinated on purchases, dreaded trips to stores, and resisted going to the closest shops because I fear it means overpaying for things. I did love eating locally, and developing relationships with the people that work at those local restaurants or cafes, but I didn't think much about the benefits of local beyond that.I found Carrie's book to be easy to read, much more conversational than your typical non-fiction book that can at times read like a re-iterating college research paper. It serves more as a memoir of her year of shopping locally along with starting a local business and the obstacles small businesses face. I found a lot of the book to be hilarious, and even more of it to be heartfelt. I love her approach to sharing about a cause that means so much to her (she can be found at a local haunt in Birmingham nearly every day), she doesn't beat you over the head with it, or tell you that buying from a corporation is evil, or that you need to totally reverse your spending habits. She advocates small doable changes that would make a huge difference for your local community and economy. Thinking about where you shop and choosing to shop locally rather than with a corporation that has shown not to have its employee's or the consumer's best interests at heart.Where I used to feel guilty about spending too much money at my local grocery store and feeling lazy for not making the extra drive to a larger chain, I now feel happy to support a local option. I want these businesses to still exist when I need them, so I'm happy to have reasons to start seeking them first. I think this book has a powerful message that could actually benefit small business owners in a very big way.In short, I loved the book and recommend it for everyone, even outside of the Birmingham, Alabama community where Carrie based her project.

The Localist makes buying locally and supporting local businesses, artists, and entrepreneurs look easy, fun, and essential. Carrie Rollwagen lays out why to buy locally and how in a fun book that is both a narrative of her life as a small business owner and as facts and figures about how big boxes are dismantling our communities (my words, not hers). Those facts and figures, combined with the strong message of HOW to shop locally, make this book hopeful and creative. Self publishing is a brave endeavor, and The Localist is the perfect experiment in it, starting with a successful Kickstarter and with great results! Fingers crossed she takes her train tour here to New Orleans!

Carrie Rollwagen is a rockstar of the local Birmingham scene, and this book proves why. The Localist sets forth a convincing thesis for why shopping locally should matter to everyone, regardless of political stance or financial bracket. Her writing style and personal anecdotes bring a charm that takes the subject of our local economies, something that can be fairly dry and confusing for most readers, and places it in the realm of compassion and humanity, which is something we hopefully can all relate to. I particularly enjoyed Carrie's stories about successfully starting her own local business, which exemplify her knowledge and proficiency. I look forward to seeing where Carrie's passion takes her, and reading more about her novel take on life in future.