epistolary economics

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Wed Sep 5 18:26:15 PDT 2001


Michael Pugliese wrote:
>
>
> Heh, "Generation of Vipers, " now that is a title long forgotten. Sold
> zillions in the Fifties. Sexist attack on Rosie the Riveter, no?
>

In the 1940s. His later _Essay on Morals_ came out when I was in high school. To call _Vipers_ "sexist" is to compliment it. It was deeply and viciously misogynistic. Just as _Empire_ is deeply and viciously anti-Third World. And the strategy is about the same: _Vipers_ pooh-poohed the power of men just as _Empire_ pooh-poohs the power of U. imperialism.

Wylie wrote it a bit better than Hardt -- less boring. And both his books got wonderful book reviews: deep explorations of the foundations of American life and society. Same sort of claque that is now busy beating the drums for Hardt/Negri. The pity of Hardt/Negri, however, is that men and women who are superior in every way to them (e.g., a certain Doug Henwood) are among their most obsequious praisers. Sad.

Carrol



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