garson insists that activism is essential to her writing. but her plays and non-fiction feature layered characters and plot twists that are often irrelevant or even inimical to liberal and socialist tenets. indeed, "money makes the world go around" was largely ignored by the anti-globalization movement within which garson was active, while a wall street journal review said "ms. garson recounts her travels with a disarmingly balanced combination of amazement and social concern" and business week said "...her voice is so persistently good-natured and her intelligence so obvious that by the end of this curious capitalist's baedeker you can't help but trust her gentle judgments."