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Upton Sinclair

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What history tells us about the dangers of media ownership | Psyche Ideas

What History Tells us About the Dangers of Media Ownership

Is media bias attributable to corporate power or personal psychology? Upton Sinclair and Walter Lippmann disagreed.

Hearts and Stomachs

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle has come to symbolize an era of muckraking and reform. But its author sought revolution, not regulation.
Book cover of Upton Sinclair's book, featuring text and his profile

Mankind, Unite!

How Upton Sinclair’s 1934 run for governor of California inspired a cult.
Smithfield factory distribution center.
partner

As Our Meat, Pork and Poultry Supply Dwindles, We Should Remember Why

While worrying about our food supply, we must also worry about workers producing it.
The poison squad, experimenters that tried poisons and studied their effects, drawn as men in suits striking dramatic poses.

Food Used to Be a Lot More Dangerous

Before the establishment of the modern FDA, anti-regulation attitudes ruled the world of food.
Leone Baxter and Clem Whitaker

The Lie Factory: How Politics Became a Business

The field of political consulting was unknown before Leone Baxter and Clem Whitaker founded Campaigns, Inc., in 1933.
An oil well at Signal Hill near Long Beach.

It’s Oil That Makes LA Boil

I never knew I lived in an oil town until I went looking for the concealed infrastructure of fossil fuel production.
W.E.B. Du Bois

When Did Black Voters Shift to Democrats? Earlier Than You Might Think

A look at how and why African Americans first started to abandon the GOP for the Democratic Party.
Nellie Bly.

How Nellie Bly and Other Trailblazing Women Wrote Creative Nonfiction Before It Was a Thing

On the early origins of a very American kind of writing.
Grant Wood’s sister, Nan Wood Graham, and his dentist, Byron McKeeby, stand by the painting for which they had posed, “American Gothic.”

Beyond the Myth of Rural America

Its inhabitants are as much creatures of state power and industrial capitalism as their city-dwelling counterparts.
Chlorodyne bottles and other medicines on display with a wooden background

Potions, Pills, and Patents: How Basic Healthcare Became Big Business in America

Basic healthcare in the 20th Century greatly impacted the way that the drug business currently operates in the United States.

When Did Cheap Meat Become an “Essential” American Value?

Keeping meat production moving during the pandemic is dangerous. But history shows that there’s little Americans won’t sacrifice for a cheap steak.
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Meatpacking Work Has Become Less Safe. Now it Threatens Our Meat Supply

Protecting the food supply chain means protecting workers.

Great American Radicals: How Would Dorothy Day Vote in 2020?

A biographer of Day talks about what we can learn from the iconic activist.

The Price of Meat

America’s obsession with beef was born of conquest and exploitation.

The Price of Plenty: How Beef Changed America

Exploitation and predatory pricing drove the transformation of the beef industry – and created the model for modern agribusiness.

End of the American Dream? The Dark History of 'America First'

When he promised to put America first in his inaugural speech, Donald Trump drew on a slogan with a long and sinister history.

Bohemian Tragedy

The rise, fall, and afterlife of George Sterling’s California arts colony.

A Century Ago, Progressives Were the Ones Shouting 'Fake News'

The term "fake news" dates back to the end of the 19th century.

How the Chili Dog Transcended America's Divisions

The national dish is really a fusion of immigrant fare.