Tags
'48 Revolutions, Capitalism, Civil War, Lincoln, Marx, Slavery, Socialism, Themerica
I have been a big fan of the podcast version of the program Against the Grain for a while now. They claim to be centered around “Politics, Society and Ideas”, and, at least as of late, have focused on the history of many hitherto under-regarded social movements (just last week they had an author on talking about the history of French Maoism during and after May ’69 – you know, Althusser to Badiou and all). Today, or better yet yesterday since this is an archived podcast, C.S. Soong had Robin Blackburn on the show talking about the relationship between Marx, writing in the New York Daily Tribune at the time (something entirely new to me), and Abraham Lincoln, an avid reader of the very same newspaper. In this vein, Blackburn also discusses the history of German emigration to the US after the revolutions of ’48, and their vast influence on the social and worker movements that would shape the rest of the American century. I have found ATG’s recent programming to be absolutely excellent in every facet, and I encourage anyone interested in these histories and ideas to give the show a try. You won’t be disappointed.