business — Bunk History

Alexander Hamilton, with superimposed map of Atlantic world.

The Return of Hamiltonian Statecraft

A grand strategy for a turbulent world.

by Walter Russell Mead via Foreign Affairs on August 20, 2024

Marketplace in New Orleans, 1936.

New Orleans as a Nexus of Power

American empire, bananas, and the Crescent City.

by Glenn Chambers Jr. via 64 Parishes on June 1, 2024

Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX at a House hearing in 2021.

‘Effective Altruism’ Isn’t As Newfangled As It Seems

Times have changed since the days of Carnegie and Rockefeller, but much in philanthropy has remained the same.

by John R. Thelin, Richard W. Trollinger via Made By History on February 6, 2023

Mitch McConnell

The Fissure Between Republicans and Business is Less Surprising Than it Seems

Business groups have always worked with both parties to support globalization and free trade.

by Jennifer Delton via Made By History on June 7, 2021

Handcuffs with chain of $

The Men Who Turned Slavery Into Big Business

The domestic slave trade was no sideshow in our history, and slave traders were not bit players on the stage.

by Joshua D. Rothman via The Atlantic on April 20, 2021

Farm for sale in Kansas, 1938.

The Early History of “Selling America to Americans”

Using film and advertising to sell capitalism and nationalism to immigrants in the early 20th century.

by Caroline Jack via HNN on November 26, 2024

A masked man with a sword waves an American flag at the face of a masked man with a stick on the anniversary of the January 6 riot.

Hyperpolitics In America

When polarization lacks clear consequences, Americans are left with "a grin without a cat: a politics with only weak policy influence or institutional ties."

by Anton Jäger via New Left Review on October 31, 2024

A still from the Apprentice of Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn inside a car.

The Apprenticeship of Donald Trump

A new film examines Trump's formative years under the tutelage of Roy Cohn.

by David Klion via The Nation on October 21, 2024

Black and white photo of Boston’s Old Corner bookstore (1900).

Bookselling Out

“The Bookshop” tells the story of American bookstores in thirteen types. Its true subject is not how bookstore can survive, but how they should be.

by Dan Sinykin via The Baffler on October 16, 2024

A boy sitting inside of an enclosed porch while his mother looks in from outside the door.

Inside Out

The magical in-betweenness—and surprising epidemiological history—of the porch.

by David Owen via The New Yorker on July 27, 2024

Jason Epstein.

The Man Who Created the Trade Paperback

On the life and times of Jason Epstein, cofounder of “The New York Review of Books.”

by Michael Castleman via Literary Hub on July 18, 2024

Edward Blum superimposed on the Supreme Court building.

The People Who Dismantled Affirmative Action Have a New Strategy to Crush Racial Justice

In throwing up new roadblocks to the use of private money to redress racial and economic inequality, the Fearless Fund ruling is antihistorical.

by David H. Gans via Slate on June 11, 2024

Whitehall, designed by Carrère & Hastings for Henry Morrison Flagler, 1902.

Building Palm Beach

On the town’s history & architecture.

by Benjamin Riley via The New Criterion on May 22, 2024

Star-Herb Medicines and Teas for all Diseases, 1923.

How Government Helped Birth the Advertising Industry

Advertising went from being an embarrassing activity to a legitimate part of every company’s business plans—despite scant evidence that it worked.

by Livia Gershon, Daniel Navon via JSTOR Daily on May 17, 2024

Illustration of a man typing on his laptop on a rollercoaster ride.

Work Sucks. What Could Salvage It?

New books examine the place of work in our lives—and how people throughout history have tried to change it.

by Erik Baker via The New Yorker on May 1, 2024

Bishop Desmond Tutu speaks at an International Conference Against Apartheid held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1986.

US Worker Movements and Direct Links Against Apartheid

Today's pro-Palestinian activists are utilizing anti-apartheid tactics from thirty years ago.

by Mattie Christine Webb via Black Perspectives on April 26, 2024

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 presidential inauguration.

The First New Deal

Planning, market coordination, and the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933.

by Sanjukta Paul via Phenomenal World on March 28, 2024

Illustration of a literary rejection letter.

There Is No Point in My Being Other Than Honest with You: On Toni Morrison’s Rejection Letters

Autopsies of a changing publishing industry; frustrations with readers' tastes; and sympathies for poets and authors drawn to commercially hopeless genres.

by Melina Moe via Los Angeles Review of Books on March 26, 2024

An assortment of Girl Scout cookies.

The Truth Behind the Girl Scout Cookie Graveyard

Even popular cookies can end up permanently cut from the roster.

by Anne Ewbank via Atlas Obscura on March 18, 2024

Continental Congress voting for independence.

Mother’s Milk of the Revolution

Right from the beginning, a commercial spirit and the wealth it generated were essential to creating and constituting America.

by John O. McGinnis via Law & Liberty on March 7, 2024

A photograph of Anne Morrissy next to the cover of her book, "Street Fight."

The Chicago Taxi Wars of the 1920s

The turbulent history of an often forgotten moment that would leave blood in the streets and shape the modern landscape of Chicago.

by Anne Morrissy, Michael Welch via Chicago Review Of Books on March 6, 2024

A top hat with poppies and the words "Merchants of Addiction", and pictures of wealthy American opium smugglers.

The Blue-Blood Families That Made Fortunes in the Opium Trade

Long before the Sacklers appeared on the scene, families like the Astors and the Delanos cemented their upper-crust status through the global trade in opium.

by Amitav Ghosh via The Nation on January 23, 2024

Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) tries unsuccessfully to hail a taxi as cabbies stage a rolling protest against app-based ride-hailing services.

Uber and the Impoverished Public Expectations of the 2010s

A new book shows that Uber was a symbol of a neoliberal philosophy that neglected public funding and regulation in favor of rule by private corporations.

by Sandeep Vaheesan via The American Prospect on January 16, 2024

Colonists in front of the Old State House in Boston.

‘King Hancock’ Review: The Biggest Name in Boston

More than an artful calligrapher, John Hancock forswore the austerity of his fellow Bostonians, and their extremism.

by William Anthony Hay via The Wall Street Journal on October 6, 2023

A drawing of a woman looking inside the door of a church where children are playing.

The Quiet Revolution of the Sabbath

Requiring rest, rather than work, is still a radical idea.

by Casey N. Cep via The New Yorker on September 30, 2023

A group of women sitting under hooded hair dryers at a salon.

A Short History of Hairdryers

The beauty parlor became a place of sociability for women in the twentieth century, partly aided by modern technology of hair drying.

by Katrina Gulliver, Jennifer Scanlon via JSTOR Daily on September 25, 2023

What Even Is "Leadership"?

And why won't all the worst people stop talking about it?

by Charles Petersen via Making History on September 21, 2023

A Silicon Valley office building.

Better, Faster, Stronger

Two recent books illuminate the dark foundations of Silicon Valley.

by Ben Tarnoff via New York Review of Books on August 31, 2023

Figurine of man with his head in a kiln (from the Metropolitan Museum of Art).

The Corporatization of Creativity

Our ways of thinking about thinking are a product of postwar business culture.

by Charlie Tyson via The Chronicle of Higher Education on July 24, 2023

Henry Ford

1922: Henry Ford on the Road to Riches

How Henry Ford managed the formation of the Ford Motor Company.

by Henry Ford via Lapham’s Quarterly on June 16, 2023

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