17: The Return of Socialism in America?

In recent years, socialism has been on the rise—or was it ever really gone? In episode 17, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell talk to Dana Goldstein of The New York Times about what it’s like to cover teacher walkouts and strikes today, and how today’s actions compare to those she wrote about in her bestselling book, The Teacher Wars, which covers the history of teaching in America. Later in the show, Thomas Frank of Listen, Liberal fame gives us a sneak preview of the final essay in his forthcoming collection. He discusses the state of socialism, the failures of the Democratic Party, and which fiction writers have most successfully taken socialism on as their material.   Readings: • The Teacher Wars by Dana Goldstein • Listen, Liberal by Thomas Frank • Rendezvous With Oblivion by Thomas Frank (forthcoming) • Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, by Studs Terkel • “[25-Year-Old Textbooks and Holes in the Ceiling: Inside America’s Public Schools,](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/reader-center/us-public-schools-conditions.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Freader-center&action=click&contentCollection=reader-center®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront)” by Josephine Sedgwick • The U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos • Native Son by Richard Wright • Such Sweet Thunder by Vincent O. Carter • Bottom Dogs by Edward Dahlberg • Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward • The Studs Lonigan Trilogy by James T. Farrell

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