Contributions by:
John Ehrenberg
I For a whole generation, American politics has been an unpleasant tale of false promises, misplaced hopes, breathtaking incompetence, ideological cowardice and historic betrayal. Some evidence suggests that this period might be coming to a close, but we have to start by acknowledging that a distinctly conservative discourse has shaped the country’s public life for…
Read Full Article...We Americans live in the most unequal advanced country in the world. When compared with similar societies, ours has the greatest inequities in the distribution of income and wealth, the provision of basic health care, the relationship between CEO salaries and average wages, the financial influence on office-holders and the level of political participation. This didn’t…
Read Full Article...Engels has always deserved more consideration than he’s gotten from his English-speaking biographers. The two best treatments of his life and work have been around for quite a while but their sophistication, length and density make them a bit unsuitable for introductory readers. That’s our loss of course, but Sam Cooke was probably speaking…
Read Full Article...Ebony & Ivy: Race Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities by Craig Steven Wilder
Review of Craig Steven Wilder, Ebony & Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013) It has become an article of faith that American exceptionalism starts with our lack of a feudal past. Settled by sturdy farmers and righteous artisans, the story goes, we were spared the long, bloody…
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