American Individualism and the Cultural Maintenance of Capitalism

David Bosworth is a professor in, and the former director of, the University of Washington’s Creative Writing Program. His fiction, poetry, and literary and cultural essays have been published in numerous journals. His collection of short fiction, The Death of Descartes, was selected by Robert Penn Warren for the Drue Heinz Literature Prize and won a special citation from PEN and the Ernest Hemingway Foundation. His novel, From My Father, Singing was a recipient of the Editors’ Book Award. Bosworth’s work has been reviewed or discussed in Newsweek, New York Times Book Review, U.S. News and World Report, The Washington Post, The Nation, and elsewhere. He has given readings, lectures, held workshops, and conducted colloquia at various locales, including Harvard University, Pomona College, Boston College, University of Louisville, and the New America Foundation.

Brett and David sit down to discuss American Individualism, its philosophical roots, and its cultural manifestations.

Topics include: The Enlightenment, American culture, The philosophical and historical roots of Individualism, the connections between individualism and capitalism, Ronald Reagan, Thomas Paine, and how 40 years of capitalist decadence has given rise to Donald "The U.S. Id Monster" Trump.

David Bosworth's website, where you can find his books and essays, is here: http://www.davidbosworthauthor.com

Our Outro Music is "Precarious Work" by Mohammad Ali which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLB2Y7JAtPE

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