Support Dr. Curmudgeon & Co.

Some blogs have fund-drives. Here at Dr. Curmudgeon & Co. we frown skeptically on such PBS imports. We prefer to support ourselves by selling things.

So why not buy this splendid new monograph, Capitalism, Politics and Railroads in Jacksonian New England? It's really much more exciting than it sounds. The author, who has a rather curmudgeonly sensibility, takes on grand shibboleths of American history. For example (as the blurb for the book puts it):

The great consensus between Jacksonians and Whigs was capitalism. No one opposed markets.

The antebellum conflict was not about whether America should be a market society, but what shape those markets should take; not about whether government should have power over private rights, but to what extent states could impose on private citizens.

Believe me, you won't find that in Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s worldview of Jacksonian America.

Buy the book at Amazon, and keep this blog in business.

And if it is charitable giving you're interested in, you might consider dropping a couple of grand into the pot at Africa Fighting Malaria. At the very least you should inform yourself on the greatest public health threat in the world.