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Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is co-produced and co-hosted by Sasha Lilley and C. S. Soong.
What can the history of Reagan-era US foreign disaster aid in Ethiopia, El Salvador, and Armenia teach us about US policy today? Historian Alexander Poster discusses the political uses of foreign disaster relief. Resources: Alexander O. Poster, A Hierarchy of Survival: The United States and the Negotiation of International Disaster Relief, 1981-1989 Alexander Poster, Obama … Continued
Is it true what many theorists are saying, that the line between work and the rest of life is blurring? Barbara Ellen Smith and Jamie Winders suggest that there’s a class bias to that claim; they contend, in the volume Precarious Worlds, that for millions of low-wage workers, the line is in fact getting more … Continued
What are the origins of modern conservatism? The failed Goldwater campaign? Or the Cold War era discontent of midwestern small capitalists? Historian Kathryn Olmsted argues that it should be located even earlier, in the intense and massive labor unrest that took place in the fields of California in the 1930s. The response by growers and other elites pioneered … Continued
How has the figure of the comic book superhero played into left-wing political projects and aspirations? In his new book, Ramzi Fawaz argues that the reinvention of the American superhero was a response to, and a factor in, the rise of radical political sensibilities and movements in the 1960s and beyond.
Creative destruction is the hallmark of capitalism, as the economist Joseph Schumpeter argued. But the destructive side is often overlooked. Francesca Ammon discusses the enormous wave of demolition that accompanied the postwar boom — transforming the rural, urban and suburban landscape, and displacing the residents of scores of communities around the United States. Resources: Francesca … Continued
Although white women have been largely excluded from histories of the domestic U.S. slave trade, they were in fact active participants in the buying and selling of enslaved Blacks. So argues Stephanie Jones-Rogers; she also elucidates the power slave owners had under federal and state law to go into so-called free states to reclaim runaway … Continued
In the popular imagination, U.S. anarchism ended with the deportation of Emma Goldman in 1919, only to re-emerge recently with the masked Black Bloc. But according to scholar Andrew Cornell, anarchism survived and thrived in mid-century America, deeply influencing bohemia, Civil Rights, and the New Left. Resources: Andrew Cornell, Unruly Equality: U.S. Anarchism in … Continued
Uber, Airbnb, and other high-profile enterprises in the so-called sharing economy are fundamentally transforming the economic landscape. Should we welcome these changes, or are they doing more harm than good? Keally McBride examines what the rise of the sharing economy has meant for workers, for institutions, and for the digital platforms on which its participants … Continued
More than a century ago, the Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies, called for the four-hour workday. Should we be considering something similar now? Kathi Weeks explores why radicals should envision a world where work is not central to our existence. She also discusses cutting the work week, without a cut in pay, and … Continued
The way we think about inequality today is governed by a number of assumptions not necessarily shared by other people at other times in history. James Martel looks to the anarchists of early twentieth-century Spain for an understanding and experience of political equality that could – and, in some cases, does – inform contemporary efforts … Continued
