The Long Struggle Against Equality in America (w/ Kim Phillips-Fein)

In this episode, we're pleased to welcome back historian Kim Phillips-Fein, one of the truly outstanding observers of the right, past and present, working today, for a conversation about her new book, Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight Against Equality in America (wwnorton.com/books/9781324074441). It makes for a companion episode of sorts to our recent discussions on Lincoln and the Declaration of Independence, but this time about those who rejected equality: proponents of slavery, biological racists (in various forms), captains of industry, and more, from the American founding through today's tech billionaires like Peter Thiel.

Listen: Bob Dylan, "My Back Pages (youtube.com/watch?v=rGEIMCWob3U)"

Listen Again: "The History of the History of the Right (w/ Kim Phillips-Fein) (know-your-enemy-1682b684.simplecast.com/episod…)," Know Your Enemy, Jan 18, 2024

Sources:

Kim Phillips-Fein, Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight against Equality in America (wwnorton.com/books/9781324074441) (2026)

— Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics (kimphillipsfein.com/books/fear-city) (2017)

— Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal (wwnorton.com/books/9780393337662) (2009)

Steven Hahn, Illiberal America: A History (wwnorton.com/books/9780393635928/about-the-boo…) (2024)

Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Political_T…) (1948)

Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America: An Interpretation of American Political Thought Since the Revolution (archive.org/details/liberaltradition00hart_0) (1955)

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