Herman husband had a vision of a whole different way of structuring economics in America. He was weird, you know, but that's what makes him kind of great. But he also just had this powerful sense of these issues of right and wrong. And the regulation that you mentioned, that was his first real big action.
Astra Taylor interviews William Hogeland on his book Founding Finance: How Debt, Speculation, Foreclosures, Protests, and Crackdowns Made Us a Nation. Hogeland recovers a fascinating crop of mostly-forgotten rebels, the movements they led, and their radical demands that put the landlords and lenders of their day on edge. He also recounts the complex and sometimes deadly machinations that went into suppressing them in order to create a nation that was safe for the owning and investing classes.
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