Boob Jubilee: The Cultural Politics of the New Economy

Thomas Frank, David Mulcahey

W. W. Norton & Company, 2003 - Investments - 404 pages

For a magazine dedicated to debunking the nation's business culture, the final years of the twentieth century overflowed with bounty. It was the most spectacular outbreak of mass delirium that we are likely to see in our lifetimes, wrote the editors of The Baffler. What was for others the dawn of a New Economy was for The Baffler a cornucopia of absurdity the costliest political and financial hustle in living memory. Reporting from places far from the white-hot centers of the libertarian revolution, Baffler writers were the people of whom it was fashionable to say they just don't get it. While New Democrats turned somersaults for Wall Street and economic commentary became puffery, these bold, talented, and very funny writers observed the crescendo of folly with which the century turned. Here their best writings are selected, updated, and reaffirmed, to sharpen our wits and inoculate us against follies yet to come.

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User Review -

Well-researched cultural and economic essays that make insightful syntheses about how we got where we are in our recent collapse. The many selections feature tart, humorous writing that is a pleasure to read and digest. I actually have 2 copies; one to read in my bedroom and another to keep where guests will be able to thumb thru it. A compilation that really makes you think. 

Contents

• This Car Climbed Mount Nasdaq Thomas Frank Greg Lane: 3
• Successitudes David Mulcahey: 19
• American Heartworm Ben Metcalf: 30
• 6: 42
• Bring Us Your Chained and Huddled Masses Christian Parenti: 51
• Death Travels West Mike Newirth: 61
• II: 109
• The Eyes of Spiro Are Upon You Chris Lehmann: 128
• Babbitt Rex Thomas Frank: 149
• 14: 159
• McSploitation Jim Arndorfer: 173
• 16: 182
• The Brand Called Shmoo Dan Raeburn: 200
• Dreams Incorporated Matt Roth: 224
• When Class Disappears Thomas Frank: 289
• The Intern Economy and the Culture Trust Jim Frederick: 301
• Chapters of Eleven Kim PhillipsFein: 314
• Dilbert and Me Tom Vanderbilt: 323
• Birchismo Dan Kelly: 343
• Paradise Shot to Hell Jeff Sharlet: 357
• Modernism as Kitsch Daniel Lazare: 369
• The Poetry of Commerce Minou Roufail: 380
• The Earl Butz Farm Michael Martone: 387
• Acknowledgments: 393

About the author

David Mulcahey is managing editor of The Baffler.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Boob Jubilee: The Cultural Politics of the New Economy
• Editors: Thomas Frank, David Mulcahey
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003
• ISBN: 0393057771, 9780393057775
• Length: 404 pages