Full episode on Patreon: Air conditioning began as a process for controlling humidity in industrial factory processes before it became about cooler human comforts. But it was also a key part of the military-industrial complex. Bill and Rachel discuss.
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Description: From tin pan alley sheet music and player pianos to phonograph records, Muzak, and corporate consolidation, the history of the American music industry is the history of US industrial development after the Civil War. Bill, Kelley, and Rachel discuss.
Links and notes for Ep. 356 (PDF): http://arsenalfordemocracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AFD-Ep-356-Links-and-Notes-The-Industrialization-of-Music.pdf
Theme music by Stunt Bird.
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Full episode on Patreon. Bill and Rachel discuss dropped ceilings and the rise and fall of the mid-century office. It’s an area that could probably use some academic study.
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Description: Bill and Kelley review primary source documents to understand the disastrous failure of the 1911 Illinois Central Railroad Shopmen’s strike and lessons it might hold for today.
Links and notes for Ep. 354 (PDF): http://arsenalfordemocracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AFD-Ep-354-Links-and-Notes-Illinois-Central-Shopmens-strike-of-1911.pdf
Theme music by Stunt Bird.
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Full episode on Patreon: During WWI, a Chicago ad man pitched the Bureau of Investigation on a volunteer secret police, which grew to nearly 300,000 unpaid agents and foreshadowed strategies of the later US intelligence state. Friend of the show Ben aka @housetrotter joins Bill and Rachel to discuss.
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Description: The sanitized grade school version of Helen Keller removes her lifelong socialism and IWW activism. Kelley, Rachel, and Bill discuss.
Links and notes for Ep. 352 (PDF): http://arsenalfordemocracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AFD-Ep-352-Links-and-Notes-Helen-Keller-was-a-Radical-Leftist.pdf
Theme music by Stunt Bird.
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This week’s bonus episode on Patreon: In the early 19th century, the New England region of the United States emerged as the global leader of a lucrative new industry that would change the world: Harvesting and transporting ice from ponds and rivers. Nate and Bill discuss.
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