against Diamond’s critics: David Correia, James Blaut, Jason Antrosio, Ned Richardson-Little, Aaron Jakes, Jeffrey Ostler, Thomas Lecaque, and others:“,“size”:“sm”,“isEditorNode”:true,“title”:“Guns, Germs, Steel, Coal, Slavery, Seaborne Empires, Peninsulas, Mountain Ranges, Rainfall, & Chance: Jared Diamond’s \“Guns, Germs, & Steel\” After Twenty-Five Years”,“publishedBylines”:[],“post_date”:“2023-06-11T15:57:40.425Z”,“cover_image”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F816e942e-fdda-4d10-b71a-c0af869854fa_1370x736.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"[braddelong.substack.com/p/guns-ge...](https://braddelong.substack.com/p/guns-germs-steel-coal-slavery-seaborne)","section_name":null,"id":127378242,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":67,"comment_count":6,"publication_name":"Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality”,“publication_logo_url”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffde2453e-9c18-4560-82ca-8b77ae62ef5b_1280x1280.png","belowTheFold":true}">

by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels contains a substantial disquisition on the precipitation of all the members of society into the two main classes:“,“size”:“sm”,“isEditorNode”:true,“title”:“Þe “lumpenproletariat”, þe “dangerous class”, þe “social scum” of þe 1800s”,“publishedBylines”:[{“id”:16879,“name”:“Brad DeLong”,“bio”:“Author of Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century, sometime Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, too online since 1995, UC Berkeley economic historian”,“photo_url”:“https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ea5ae644-9822-4ca5-ac6b-e18c017d8fbc_1189x1208.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":100}],"post_date":"2023-08-15T23:23:21.143Z","cover_image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F904849ca-b6e2-4951-be5e-b8e3eb54a9fe_1866x596.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"[braddelong.substack.com/p/e-lumpe...](https://braddelong.substack.com/p/e-lumpenproletariat-e-dangerous-class)","section_name":"Neofascism, & c.“,“id”:135672467,“type”:“newsletter”,“reaction_count”:26,“comment_count”:8,“publication_name”:“Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality”,“publication_logo_url”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffde2453e-9c18-4560-82ca-8b77ae62ef5b_1280x1280.png","belowTheFold":true}">

Interpreting politics through the rise of technocracy, morality, and the “web of capital” by J. BRADFORD DELONG MAY-JUNE 2023 Photograph f…”,“size”:“sm”,“isEditorNode”:true,“title”:“The Modern World Reconceived”,“publishedBylines”:[{“id”:16879,“name”:“Brad DeLong”,“bio”:“Author of Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century, sometime Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, too online since 1995, UC Berkeley economic historian”,“photo_url”:“https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ea5ae644-9822-4ca5-ac6b-e18c017d8fbc_1189x1208.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":100}],"post_date":"2023-07-10T18:43:05.134Z","cover_image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F754add91-8a96-40ee-8547-b7d11411815a_632x474.jpeg","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"[braddelong.substack.com/p/the-mod...](https://braddelong.substack.com/p/the-modern-world-reconceived)","section_name":null,"id":114823681,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":28,"comment_count":10,"publication_name":"Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality”,“publication_logo_url”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffde2453e-9c18-4560-82ca-8b77ae62ef5b_1280x1280.png","belowTheFold":true}">

: The economic system that the bourgeoisie had created… could, Marx thought, create wealth, but it could not distribute wealth evenly. Alongside prosperity would inevitably come increasing disparities of wealth. The rich would become richer. The poor woul…”,“size”:“sm”,“isEditorNode”:true,“title”:“One of My Favorite Pieces from \“Slouching Towards Utopia\“”,“publishedBylines”:[{“id”:16879,“name”:“Brad DeLong”,“bio”:“Author of Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century, sometime Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, too online since 1995, UC Berkeley economic historian”,“photo_url”:“https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ea5ae644-9822-4ca5-ac6b-e18c017d8fbc_1189x1208.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":100}],"post_date":"2023-07-19T23:01:15.135Z","cover_image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed2eddee-e126-492a-916c-98d906e3e11f_1382x748.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"[braddelong.substack.com/p/one-of-...](https://braddelong.substack.com/p/one-of-my-favorite-pieces-from-slouching)","section_name":"Slouching Towards Utopia Extras”,“id”:133315342,“type”:“newsletter”,“reaction_count”:31,“comment_count”:4,“publication_name”:“Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality”,“publication_logo_url”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffde2453e-9c18-4560-82ca-8b77ae62ef5b_1280x1280.png","belowTheFold":true}">

is that one gets very insightful reviews from serious, smart, hard-working people who think differently than I do. Not only is it a huge ego boost—someone smart is paying attention to me!—but I get to learn stuff as well:“,“size”:“sm”,“isEditorNode”:true,“title”:“What Is Right & What Is Wrong in \“Slouching Towards Utopia\”: Venkatesh Rao’s View”,“publishedBylines”:[{“id”:16879,“name”:“Brad DeLong”,“bio”:“Author of Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century, sometime Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, too online since 1995, UC Berkeley economic historian”,“photo_url”:“https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ea5ae644-9822-4ca5-ac6b-e18c017d8fbc_1189x1208.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":100}],"post_date":"2023-06-20T16:07:16.237Z","cover_image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbab1921b-43a0-4ec3-8f3a-5b253a66407f_323x500.jpeg","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"[braddelong.substack.com/p/what-is...](https://braddelong.substack.com/p/what-is-right-and-what-is-wrong-in)","section_name":"Slouching Towards Utopia—Reviews & Interviews”,“id”:129745248,“type”:“newsletter”,“reaction_count”:34,“comment_count”:3,“publication_name”:“Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality”,“publication_logo_url”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffde2453e-9c18-4560-82ca-8b77ae62ef5b_1280x1280.png","belowTheFold":true}">

. Having the paperback out in time for the Christmas-presents season seems a better idea”,“size”:“sm”,“isEditorNode”:true,“title”:“DRAFT: Notes for Possibilities for an Afterword for the Paperback Edition of \“Slouching Towards Utopia\“”,“publishedBylines”:[{“id”:16879,“name”:“Brad DeLong”,“bio”:“Author of Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century, sometime Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, too online since 1995, UC Berkeley economic historian”,“photo_url”:“https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ea5ae644-9822-4ca5-ac6b-e18c017d8fbc_1189x1208.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":100}],"post_date":"2023-03-06T21:09:36.540Z","cover_image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e4fa647-2aef-40b7-a874-348e20fd8c14_1028x694.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"[braddelong.substack.com/p/draft-n...](https://braddelong.substack.com/p/draft-notes-for-possibilities-for)","section_name":"Slouching Towards Utopia Extras”,“id”:106840956,“type”:“newsletter”,“reaction_count”:14,“comment_count”:6,“publication_name”:“Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality”,“publication_logo_url”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffde2453e-9c18-4560-82ca-8b77ae62ef5b_1280x1280.png","belowTheFold":true}">

, is a relatively slight effort. But I would welcome your reactions… He is wrong: it is definitely not a slight effort. In this case, at least, the British mode of modesty and self-deprecation is simply misleading.“,“size”:“sm”,“isEditorNode”:true,“title”:“Trying to Think Through Our Crisis of Liberal Democracy, Part I”,“publishedBylines”:[{“id”:16879,“name”:“Brad DeLong”,“bio”:“Author of Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century, sometime Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, too online since 1995, UC Berkeley economic historian”,“photo_url”:“https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ea5ae644-9822-4ca5-ac6b-e18c017d8fbc_1189x1208.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":100}],"post_date":"2023-06-03T23:34:03.635Z","cover_image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F503dab88-9048-4f5f-9759-e0fa62d67732_878x474.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"[braddelong.substack.com/p/trying-...](https://braddelong.substack.com/p/trying-to-think-through-our-crisis)","section_name":null,"id":125794492,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":65,"comment_count":31,"publication_name":"Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality”,“publication_logo_url”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffde2453e-9c18-4560-82ca-8b77ae62ef5b_1280x1280.png","belowTheFold":true}">

. Democracy is not doomed to fail or decline, but rather needs to be renewed and defended by its citizens. So say Brook Manville and Josiah Ober in their”,“size”:“sm”,“isEditorNode”:true,“title”:“REVIEW: Manville & Ober: \“The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives\“”,“publishedBylines”:[{“id”:16879,“name”:“Brad DeLong”,“bio”:“Author of Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century, sometime Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, too online since 1995, UC Berkeley economic historian”,“photo_url”:“https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ea5ae644-9822-4ca5-ac6b-e18c017d8fbc_1189x1208.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":100}],"post_date":"2023-10-26T13:20:06.901Z","cover_image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb4c1ad1c-b44b-4ce8-b3cb-c886c8db9cee_1456x822.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"[braddelong.substack.com/p/review-...](https://braddelong.substack.com/p/review-manville-and-ober-the-civic)","section_name":"Neofascism, & c.“,“id”:138303665,“type”:“newsletter”,“reaction_count”:16,“comment_count”:6,“publication_name”:“Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality”,“publication_logo_url”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffde2453e-9c18-4560-82ca-8b77ae62ef5b_1280x1280.png","belowTheFold":true}">

was not an article in a journal or a monograph from a scholarly publisher, but rather an internet discussion on a weblog—people using a new mode of print-communication to digest and react to Francis Spufford’s very interesting book”,“size”:“sm”,“isEditorNode”:true,“title”:“DRAFT: Waiting for the Algorithmic Society”,“publishedBylines”:[{“id”:16879,“name”:“Brad DeLong”,“bio”:“Author of Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century, sometime Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, too online since 1995, UC Berkeley economic historian”,“photo_url”:“https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ea5ae644-9822-4ca5-ac6b-e18c017d8fbc_1189x1208.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":100}],"post_date":"2023-03-01T20:26:06.442Z","cover_image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faf6a4cd3-2c24-4077-9ecd-d60b58462ccd_948x716.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"[braddelong.substack.com/p/draft-w...](https://braddelong.substack.com/p/draft-waiting-for-the-algorithmic)","section_name":null,"id":105876966,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":13,"comment_count":3,"publication_name":"Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality”,“publication_logo_url”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffde2453e-9c18-4560-82ca-8b77ae62ef5b_1280x1280.png","belowTheFold":true}">

”,“size”:“sm”,“isEditorNode”:true,“title”:” Þe \“Semiconductor\” Section from \“Slouching Towards Utopia\“”,“publishedBylines”:[{“id”:16879,“name”:“Brad DeLong”,“bio”:“Author of Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century, sometime Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, too online since 1995, UC Berkeley economic historian”,“photo_url”:“https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ea5ae644-9822-4ca5-ac6b-e18c017d8fbc_1189x1208.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":100}],"post_date":"2023-07-17T21:11:06.663Z","cover_image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe2d23f0f-54a7-4628-9b98-37639cc1aff9_920x372.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"[braddelong.substack.com/p/e-semic...](https://braddelong.substack.com/p/e-semiconductor-section-from-slouching)","section_name":"Slouching Towards Utopia Extras”,“id”:133782832,“type”:“newsletter”,“reaction_count”:27,“comment_count”:9,“publication_name”:“Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality”,“publication_logo_url”:“https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffde2453e-9c18-4560-82ca-8b77ae62ef5b_1280x1280.png","belowTheFold":true}">