Civic Lens

Cornell historian, Larry Glickman, explains that capitalism isn't a fixed system, but an idea that Americans have continually reinvented. Glickman is the author of Free Enterprise: An American History  and Buying Power: A History of Consumer Activism in America.

Glickman recommends: The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward Baptist, The Incorporation of America, by Alan Trachtenberg, The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy, by Suzanne Mettler, "Why I Am Not a Conservative" by F.A. Hayek, The Marketplace of RevolutionHow Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence by T.H. Breen, and Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery by Seth Rockman.

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John Dinan (The American State Constitutional Tradition⁠) of Wake Forest University, explains why so many of the decisions that shape our daily lives happen in state capitals instead of Washington.

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Boris Heersink (⁠Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865–1968⁠ and ⁠National Party Organizations and Party Brands in American Politics: The Democratic and Republican National Committees, 1912-2016⁠)tells us why party brands are so useful to voters and how Trump's hold on the GOP has shaped that party's brand.

Heersink recommends: Learning from Loss: The Democrats, 2016–2020 and The Elephants in the Room: How Trump Voters Seized the Party from Republican Leaders, both by Seth Masket, and The Nationalization of American Political Parties, 1880–1896 by Daniel Klinghard and Presidential Party Building: Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush by Daniel J. Galvin

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Michael Kang of Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law, and co-author of Free to Judge: The Power of Campaign Money in Judicial Elections discusses the changing role of money in legislative and judicial elections.

Kang recommends: Brennan Center for Justice and The Brave New World of Judicial Election by Charles Geyh.

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Arin Dube, of UMass Amherst, and author of The Wage Standard: What's Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It, speaks on the minimum wage, labor markets, and economic inequality. He was featured in The New Yorker, An Economist’s Quest to Solve America’s Wage Problem, and maintains a Substack.

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Teri Incampo from the University of Mississippi on the value of theater as an artistic medium, her latest research, and how we can all become more thoughtful consumers of film and theater.

Incampo recommends: Is God Is?, Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, Keke Palmer, Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment by Rhae Lynn Barnes, Bodies in DissentSpectacular Performances of Race and Freedom, 1850–1910 by Daphne A. Brooks, and Cracking Up: Black Feminist Comedy in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Century United States by Katelyn Hale Wood.

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University of Michigan sociologist Elizabeth Armstrong, author of Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality discusses emerging research on workplace experiences, where many college-educated women continue to encounter barriers to advancement even in professional careers.

Armstrong recommends: Gender Flashpoints: The Power of Dialogue by Abigail C. Saguy

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Chris Berry (Property Tax Fairness⁠), William J. and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, and author of ⁠Imperfect Union: Representation and Taxation in Multilevel Governments⁠, explains how property values are determined, but also how this widely used system suffers from a perpetual bias against lower-valued properties.

Berry recommends: Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America by Bernadette Atuahene

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Matt Mitten, Professor of Law and Executive Director, National Sports Law Institute; WADA Prohibited List; USADA; World Anti-Doping Code

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Fordham Professor Christina Greer, author of How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams, and Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream,.

Greer recommends: Racial and Ethnic Politics in American Suburbs, Deed Theft, and Jesse Jackson's 1969 interview in Playboy and The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson.

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