What do Brazil, rubber, and Henry Ford all have in common? How are tobacco, globalization, and earthworms all connected? How do mosquitoes, the climate of Africa, and indigenous biology all influence the beginning of the American slave trade? These are just some of the connections historian Charles C. Mann traces in his expansive, interwoven, and…
Author: Andrew Ahern
“To live is essentially to live the life of another: to live in and through the life that others have been able to construct or invent.” The French philosopher Emanuele Coccia begins his book The Life of Plants: A Metaphysics of Mixture with these words, following a similar thread of symbiotic speculation throughout the pages….
The word “Commonwealth” has a particular place in Massachusetts vernacular. It’s common to find the word used as political branding, “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts” as an obvious example. But beyond sounding nostalgic, orderly, and constitutional, “Commonwealth” literally means, well-being—wealth, shared by all—common: Commonwealth. This reminder begins Jedidiah Purdy’s newest book, This Land is Our Land:…