Eugene McCarraher, the author of The Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity, does not think so. He discusses his 2019 book with Peter Mommsen at the Plough podcast: Listen here. A taste of the transcript: Capitalism, […]
capitalism
Mike Pence: “Conservatives can either be for politically motivated government intervention in the private sector, or we can be against it.”
As the populist candidates for president attack woke corporations, Pence is trying to shore-up his lane as the Ronald Reagan candidate. Today he turned to the libertarian Reason magazine to defend free markets. Here is a taste of his piece […]
The Author’s Corner with Benjamin Jenkins
Benjamin Jenkins is Associate Professor of History and University Archivist at the University of La Verne. This interview is based on his new book, Octopus’s Garden: How Railroads and Citrus Transformed Southern California (University Press of Kansas, 2023). JF: What […]
The Author’s Corner with Bart Elmore
Bart Elmore is Professor of Environmental History at The Ohio State University. This interview is based on his new book, Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet (University of North Carolina Press, 2023). […]
“Saudi Arabia just bought professional golf”
Here is the editorial board of The Washington Post: When the Saudi-backed LIV Golf was trying, early last year, to attract the PGA Tour’s top players, the legacy organization implied it would never align itself with a kingdom trying to […]
Pope Francis on “consumerist greed” and “selfish hearts”
Here is Claire GiangravĂ© at Religion News Service: Pope Francis condemned “consumerist greed” and “selfish hearts” as responsible for the climate crisis in his yearly message for World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which occurs on Sept. […]
Capitalist waste
Here is The George Washington University historian Trevor Jackson at The Baffler: EVERYONE RECALLS THE SHORTAGESÂ of toilet paper and pasta, but the early period of the pandemic was also a time of gluts. With restaurants and school cafeterias shuttered, farmers […]
The Author’s Corner with Sharon Ann Murphy
Sharon Ann Murphy is Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History and Classics at Providence College. This interview is based on her new book, Banking on Slavery: Financing Southern Expansion in the Antebellum United States (University of Chicago […]
The Author’s Corner with Joseph Giacomelli
Joseph Giacomelli is Assistant Professor of Environmental History at Duke Kunshan University. This interview is based on his new book, Uncertain Climes: Debating Climate Change in Gilded Age America (University of Chicago Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write […]
Capitalism is “siphoning our attention for profit”
Over at Current Affairs, Nathan Robinson interviews Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention. Robinson writes: Johann Hari has written multiple bestselling nonfiction books including Chasing the Scream, Lost Connections, and most recently Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention. All […]
Highlights from Harper’s forum on liberalism
I finally finished the Harper’s forum, “Is Liberalism Worth Saving?” The forum featured Patrick Deneen, Francis Fukuyama, Deirdre McCloskey, and Cornel West. Here are a few things I highlighted: Deneen on populism: The other form of populism that liberalism fears […]
Sometimes the “robber barons” and “greedy thieves” bring “death” to our hometown. Backstreets magazine closes shop.
In July, 2022, the editors of the Bruce Springsteen fan magazine Backstreets responded to outrageously high ticket prices for Springsteen’s current tour. If you aren’t familiar with this story, get up to speed here and here. For the first time […]
The Author’s Corner with Thomas A. Castillo
Thomas A. Castillo is Associate Professor of History at Coastal Carolina University. This interview is based on his book, Working in the Magic City: Moral Economy in Early Twentieth-Century Miami (University of Illinois Press, 2022). JF: What led you to […]
What will they say about us?
Cultural critic George Scialabba wonders what we might ask our nineteenth-century ancestors. Perhaps we might ask them why they believed it was legitimate for one person to own another? Or we might ask, “Why did women seem to you incapable […]
Do we need a national rail system?
Jacobin writer Luke Savage thinks so. I am sympathetic to his argument. Here is Savage’s recent piece: Earlier this year, the federal board charged with overseeing America’s rail network called a hearing to discuss widespread complaints about higher costs and poor service. […]
What Prohibition accomplished
Writing on the day (December 5) that marks the ratification of the 21st Amendment in 1933, political scientist Mark Lawrence Schrad wants us to think about what the movement to end the manufacture, transportation and sale of liquor in the […]
The Author’s Corner with Ahmed White
Ahmed White is Nicholas Rosenbaum Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Boulder Law School. This interview is based on his new book, Under the Iron Heel: The Wobblies and the Capitalist War on Radical Workers (University of California Press, 2022). JF: […]
The Author’s Corner with Lori J. Daggar
Lori J. Daggar is Associate Professor of History at Ursinus College. This interview is based on her new book, Cultivating Empire: Capitalism, Philanthropy, and the Negotiation of American Imperialism in Indian Country (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022). JF: What led […]
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Tony Norman slams Springsteen and Ticketmaster
Over the weekend I lamented the possibility that I might not be able to see Springsteen on his upcoming tour. Tony Norman, an opinion writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and a Current contributor, has my back and the backs of […]
Does the GOP still believe in free markets?
Apparently not in Florida. Here is writer Robert Schlesinger at The New Republic: “The market is rational and government is dumb,” Dick Armey, one of the leaders of the 1994 Republican Revolution, liked to say. That used to be a cornerstone […]