CBH Talk | “Capitalism and Its Critics” with John Cassidy and Doug Henwood
In his new book, Capitalism and Its Critics: A History from the Industrial Revolution to AI, The New Yorker’s John Cassidy traces 200 years of global capitalism through the voices of its most insightful and influential critics. At a time when technology, climate change, inequality, trade wars, and a populist backlash to globalization are challenging the foundations of our economic system, Cassidy examines the deep and varied critiques that have emerged over two centuries. Join him in conversation with journalist Doug Henwood as they delve into capitalism’s complex legacy, the enduring power of its ideas, and the thinkers who have questioned its promises.
The battle is not only about economic ideas, but about the VERY nature of our society. Especially now, when some see the failures of capitalism as more than a little responsible for the Trumpian oligarchy, while others see its successes as ushering in a new era of AI-led prosperity this is an illuminating and essential read.
—Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics
Participants
John Cassidy is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Dot.con: The Greatest Story Ever Sold and How Markets Fail, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction. He lives in New York City.
Doug Henwood is a journalist and broadcaster who specializes in economics and politics. He edited the newsletter Left Business Observer from 1986 to 2013 and has been doing Behind the News, a weekly radio show and podcast that originates on KPFA, Berkeley, since 1995. His books include Wall Street: How It Works and for Whom (1997) and My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency (2016). He’s written for Harper’s, The Nation, The New Republic, and The Baffler. He is working on a book about the rot of the American ruling class.
