Full episode on Patreon: Bill and Rachel discuss turn-of-the-century Toledo mayor and progressive industrialist Samuel Milton “Golden Rule” Jones and reflect on the limitations of his popular but unusual brand of Christian socialism made possible by his oil money.
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Description: Nate and Bill discuss how the Southern US slave economy was fully integrated into, not distinct from, global capitalism and industrialization, especially through the lens of the 2014 Sven Beckert book “Empire of Cotton.”
Notes and links for Ep. 358 (PDF): http://arsenalfordemocracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AFD-Ep-358-The-Cotton-Gin-and-Southern-Capitalism.pdf
Theme music by Stunt Bird.
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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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