business — Bunk History

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An assortment of Girl Scout cookies.

The Truth Behind the Girl Scout Cookie Graveyard

Even popular cookies can end up permanently cut from the roster.

by Anne Ewbank via Atlas Obscura on March 18, 2024

Continental Congress voting for independence.

Mother’s Milk of the Revolution

Right from the beginning, a commercial spirit and the wealth it generated were essential to creating and constituting America.

by John O. McGinnis via Law & Liberty on March 7, 2024

A photograph of Anne Morrissy next to the cover of her book, "Street Fight."

The Chicago Taxi Wars of the 1920s

The turbulent history of an often forgotten moment that would leave blood in the streets and shape the modern landscape of Chicago.

by Anne Morrissy, Michael Welch via Chicago Review of Books on March 6, 2024

A top hat with poppies and the words "Merchants of Addiction", and pictures of wealthy American opium smugglers.

The Blue-Blood Families That Made Fortunes in the Opium Trade

Long before the Sacklers appeared on the scene, families like the Astors and the Delanos cemented their upper-crust status through the global trade in opium.

by Amitav Ghosh via The Nation on January 23, 2024

Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) tries unsuccessfully to hail a taxi as cabbies stage a rolling protest against app-based ride-hailing services.

Uber and the Impoverished Public Expectations of the 2010s

A new book shows that Uber was a symbol of a neoliberal philosophy that neglected public funding and regulation in favor of rule by private corporations.

by Sandeep Vaheesan via The American Prospect on January 16, 2024

An undated engraving depicting Ku Klux Klan vigilantes in Kansas.

When Bosses Were Terrorists

Historians depict late 19th-century American business elites as agents of progress, but many of them could also be called “terrorists.”

by Chad Pearson via Jacobin on November 23, 2023

Colonists in front of the Old State House in Boston.

‘King Hancock’ Review: The Biggest Name in Boston

More than an artful calligrapher, John Hancock forswore the austerity of his fellow Bostonians, and their extremism.

by William Anthony Hay via The Wall Street Journal on October 6, 2023

A drawing of a woman looking inside the door of a church where children are playing.

The Quiet Revolution of the Sabbath

Requiring rest, rather than work, is still a radical idea.

by Casey N. Cep via The New Yorker on September 30, 2023

A group of women sitting under hooded hair dryers at a salon.

A Short History of Hairdryers

The beauty parlor became a place of sociability for women in the twentieth century, partly aided by modern technology of hair drying.

by Katrina Gulliver, Jennifer Scanlon via JSTOR Daily on September 25, 2023

What Even Is "Leadership"?

And why won't all the worst people stop talking about it?

by Charles Petersen via Making History on September 21, 2023

A Silicon Valley office building.

Better, Faster, Stronger

Two recent books illuminate the dark foundations of Silicon Valley.

by Ben Tarnoff via New York Review of Books on August 31, 2023

Figurine of man with his head in a kiln (from the Metropolitan Museum of Art).

The Corporatization of Creativity

Our ways of thinking about thinking are a product of postwar business culture.

by Charlie Tyson via The Chronicle of Higher Education on July 24, 2023

Henry Ford

1922: Henry Ford on the Road to Riches

How Henry Ford managed the formation of the Ford Motor Company.

by Henry Ford via Lapham’s Quarterly on June 16, 2023

Portrait of Jane Stanford, circa 1855.

A Poisonous Legacy

Two new books reveal the story of Stanford University’s early years to be rife with corruption, autocracy, incompetence, white supremacy, and murder.

by Jessica Riskin via New York Review of Books on June 1, 2023

Senators Cory Booker and Chuck Grassley conversing.

How Washington Bargained Away Rural America

Every five years, the farm bill brings together Democrats and Republicans. The result is the continued corporatization of agriculture.

by Luke Goldstein via The American Prospect on May 24, 2023

They Did It for the Clicks

How digital media pursued viral traffic at all costs and unleashed chaos.

by Aaron Timms via The New Republic on April 18, 2023

Illustration by Cristina Spano, picturing rulers and colorful shapes and designs coming out of the neck of a collared shirt

The Origins of Creativity

The concept was devised in postwar America, in response to the cultural and commercial demands of the era. Now we’re stuck with it.

by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on April 17, 2023

Bernard King of the New Jersey Nets driving past Elvin Hayes of the Washington Bullets, in March of 1978.

The Racial Politics of the N.B.A. Have Always Been Ugly

A new book argues that the real history of the league is one of strife between Black labor and white ownership.

by Jay Caspian Kang via The New Yorker on March 21, 2023

Malcolm Harris, left, and the cover of his book "Palo Alto," right. (Photo by Julia Burke)

The Obscene Invention of California Capitalism

A new history examines Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, the West Coast's settler ideology, and recent turbulence in the world of tech.

by Malcolm Harris, Emma Hager via The Nation on March 15, 2023

The WalMart Supercenter sign glowing over shopping carts in a deserted parking lot at night.

Charting the Murky Prehistory of the Retail Supercenter

Walmart did not invent or import the idea. In fact, it was among the last of the discount department stores to experiment with the concept.

by Addision del Mastro via The Bulwark on March 2, 2023

Naomi Oreskes, sitting with her hands resting on her knees

America's Toxic Romance With the Free Market

How market fundamentalists convinced Americans to loathe government.

by Naomi Oreskes, Claudia Dreifus via The Nation on February 17, 2023

Six frames of a rider on his horse going through the motions of trotting.

Palo Alto’s First Tech Giant Was a Horse Farm

The region has been in the disruption business for nearly 150 years.

by Malcolm Harris via The Atlantic on February 8, 2023

Men in suits with briefcases walking.

The Myth of the Socially Conscious Corporation

The argument that corporations have historically been a force for good—and can be again—is wishful thinking.

by Meagan Day via The New Republic on January 27, 2023

Fall/Winter 1957 Sears catalog page spread of men's work clothes.

Before Folding 30 Years Ago, the Sears Catalog Sold Some Surprising Products

The retail giant’s mail-order business reigned supreme for more than a century, offering everything from quack cures to ready-to-build homes.

by Leo DeLuca via Smithsonian on January 26, 2023

Crowds and escalators in the Mall of America.

The Rise and Fall of the Mall

Alexandra Lange's "Meet Me by the Fountain" recovers the forgotten past and the still hopeful future of the American shopping mall.

by Melvin Backman via The Nation on December 12, 2022

Illustration depicting workmen and firemen dragging a fireman and engineer from a Baltimore freight train during the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad strike.

The Railway Labor Act Allowed Congress to Break the Rail Strike. We Should Get Rid of It.

Congress was able to break the rail strike last week because of a century-old law designed to weaken the disruptive power of unions.

by Nelson Lichtenstein, Andrew Yamakawa Elrod via Jacobin on December 7, 2022

The FTX Arena.

FTX’s Downfall Shows the Problems Exposed by Enron Have Only Gotten Worse

Social media makes it even easier to sell the aura of success that was pivotal to both companies.

by Gavin Benke via Made By History on November 15, 2022

Cartoon of Buckminster Fuller with spirals in his glasses and hands out as if hypnotizing the reader.

Space-Age Magus

From beginning to end, experts saw through Buckminster Fuller’s ideas and theories. Why did so many people come under his spell?

by James Gleick via New York Review of Books on November 3, 2022

Providence Merchant John Brown Gets Rich Privateering in 1776 and 1777

The inventory he provided to tax assessors reveals just how profitable privateering was during the Revolutionary era.

by Christian McBurney via Journal of the American Revolution on October 18, 2022

Starbucks Workers United partners celebrate after a store in Mesa, Arizona, became the third Starbucks location in the country to unionize in February 2022.

Labor Rising

Is the working class experiencing a new CIO moment?

by Sarah Jaffe via The Progressive on October 10, 2022

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