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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.
It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism, as the popular observation goes. But, according to Betsy Hartmann, that’s an especially American outlook. She discusses what she calls the America Syndrome: the national propensity toward apocalyptic thinking, rooted in religiosity and imperial expansion. Resources: Betsy Hartmann, The America Syndrome: … Continued
Sheldon Wolin, who famously invoked the specter of inverted totalitarianism, also put forward a concept of “fugitive democracy.” While many theorists of democracy found the concept too bleak and despairing, David McIvor argues that Wolin was in fact pushing for the development of enduring, and radically democratic, ways of thinking and acting. (Encore presentation.) David … Continued
Conservative think tanks, like the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Cato Institute, have had enormous success in shaping political ideas and policy over the last forty years. But historian Jason Stahl argues that some of their greatest achievements have been in remaking the terrain on which historically liberal think tanks have operated … Continued
In relation to the radical political groupings of his time, the British Marxist T.A. Jackson occupied the position of an outsider. So asserts Philip Bounds, who finds Jackson’s inability to conform not only refreshing but of immense value to the revolutionary project. Bounds also discusses Jackson’s understanding of the political views of Dickens and Shakespeare. … Continued
At a time when the far right has become more visible and emboldened in the streets, what lessons can be drawn from the past for building a mass left politics against the right? Radical writer and former professional soccer player Gabriel Kuhn discusses struggles against the far right in Europe, historically and today, and the … Continued
Diversity is measured in large part by the presence or absence of people belonging to one ethnoracial category (Black, Hispanic, etc.) or another. But do those long-standing categories still make sense, given intragroup differences, immigration to the U.S., and race-mixing? David Hollinger thinks that if the goal of anti-discrimination policy is to match reward conferred … Continued
It was an unlikely book to take America by storm: a 700-page work of economic history by a French academic. But Thomas Piketty’s “Capital in the 21st Century” has proved to be a book for our times, explaining the extreme inequality that characterizes our world, and drawing some bold and empirically backed arguments about the inherent … Continued
What happens at the intersection of ecology, sex, and indigenous studies? What insights might be gleaned, and what ethical imperatives might emerge, when what Melissa Nelson calls eco-erotics is examined in the context of Native culture? In Nelson’s view, we have much to learn from indigenous oral narratives that depict humans marrying non-human beings and … Continued
Are children inherently creative? What might be taken as a given is actually a relatively new notion. And, as Amy Ogata argues, it took hold in the United States under particular circumstances: driven in part by Cold War anxieties about the health of the nation, along with the desire by toy manufacturers to sell products … Continued
What accounts for the allegiance W. E. B. Du Bois professed to Stalin’s U.S.S.R.? What did the influential African American thinker and writer believe had happened to white supremacy and racial prejudice in the Soviet Union? According to Vaughn Rasberry, Du Bois believed that emerging communist nations like the U.S.S.R. had the right to experiment, … Continued
