Dowd's work from the mid 70's, "The Twisted Dream: Capitalist Development in the United States Since 1776, " was a great influence on me. Even introduced me to some great poems by Robinson Jeffers like this one http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/32/features-goldin.php
“Shine, Perishing Republic.” While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity, heavily thickening to empire, And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out, and the mass hardens, I sadly smiling remember that the flower fades to make fruit, the fruit rots to make earth . . . But for my children, I would have them keep their distance from the thickening center; corruption Never has been compulsory, when the cities lie at the monster’s feet there are left the mountains.
And boys, be in nothing so moderate as love of man, a clever servant, insufferable master. There is a trap that catches noblest spirits, that caught — they say — God, when he walked on earth.
http://www.dougdowd.org/NewFiles/booksmain.html Understanding Capitalism, Doug Dowd, Ed. (London: Pluto Press, July 2002) Capitalism and Its Economics: A Critical History (London: Pluto Press, 2000) Read Chapter 6, an excerpt from the book. http://www.dougdowd.org/NewFiles/capecon/chapter6lo.html Against the Conventional Wisdom: A Primer for Current Economic Controversies and Proposals (Boulder: Westview, 1997) Blues for America: A Critique, A Lament, and Some Memories (NY Monthly Review Press, 1997) U.S. Capitalist Development in the United States Since 1776: Of, By, and For Which People (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1993) A few dozen samples of the entries from Doug's latest published book, The Broken Promises of "America!" — At Home and Abroad, Past and Present, An Encyclopedia for Our Times, Common Courage Press, September 2004. http://www.dougdowd.org/NewFiles/encyclo/index.html -- Michael Pugliese