Got to "Seeing like a State" last summer on Delong's recommendation. One of the most insightful books I've ever read. Manages to trace a through-line from censuses thru forest management thru Le Corbusier thru Lenin and illuminating at every turn.
Yes, would be interested to hear more from you on Scott. Also his later book "Against the Grain." And the connection with Scottish Enlightenment. Though I think Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality has a lot of influence on this line of thought.
“Funny” that so many intellectuals feel compelled to pass themselves off as connoisseurs of artisanal produce, regardless of political orientation. Leftie Tim Burke bemoans the decline of the durian, while Professor Scott stresses over tomatoes. In his once-legendary book, The Making of the President, 1960, Teddy White (b. 1915) had this to say about apples.
Time was, twenty years ago, when Milwaukeeans who loved apples could have a choice of thirty varieties. Now the homogenization of American life, distribution and agriculture had cut commercially available varieties to four—all of them brighter than red. And where were the Baldwin and the Russet apples of yesteryear?
Speaking for myself, I am definitely not a tomato man, but I grew up in the fifties eating tomatoes fresh from my father’s garden in our backyard, and I didn’t notice much difference. And no one seems to feel sorry for the struggling masses, who usually had no access to fresh produce in the first place, and couldn’t afford it if they did.
Got to "Seeing like a State" last summer on Delong's recommendation. One of the most insightful books I've ever read. Manages to trace a through-line from censuses thru forest management thru Le Corbusier thru Lenin and illuminating at every turn.
Yes, would be interested to hear more from you on Scott. Also his later book "Against the Grain." And the connection with Scottish Enlightenment. Though I think Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality has a lot of influence on this line of thought.
“Funny” that so many intellectuals feel compelled to pass themselves off as connoisseurs of artisanal produce, regardless of political orientation. Leftie Tim Burke bemoans the decline of the durian, while Professor Scott stresses over tomatoes. In his once-legendary book, The Making of the President, 1960, Teddy White (b. 1915) had this to say about apples.
Time was, twenty years ago, when Milwaukeeans who loved apples could have a choice of thirty varieties. Now the homogenization of American life, distribution and agriculture had cut commercially available varieties to four—all of them brighter than red. And where were the Baldwin and the Russet apples of yesteryear?
Speaking for myself, I am definitely not a tomato man, but I grew up in the fifties eating tomatoes fresh from my father’s garden in our backyard, and I didn’t notice much difference. And no one seems to feel sorry for the struggling masses, who usually had no access to fresh produce in the first place, and couldn’t afford it if they did.