From This Collection

Are we still living in Milton Friedman’s economy?

Nov 15, 2023
A conversation about the life and legacy of economist Milton Friedman with historian Jennifer Burns.
Milton Friedman, one of the most famous economists of the 20th century, died in 2006. But his ideas remain a presence in economics today.
STAFF/AFP via Getty Images

Poet Lillian-Yvonne Bertram explores money as "a state of lack"

Sep 26, 2023
Read an excerpt from the title poem of Bertram's latest work, "Negative Money," which explores race, gender and indebtedness.
Lillian-Yvonne Bertram's "Negative Money," a book of poems, tackles themes including race, gender and debt.
Courtesy Lillian-Yvonne Bertram

Facial recognition startup Clearview AI could change privacy as we know it

Sep 19, 2023
In "Your Face Belongs to Us” New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill describes her examination of privacy in the digital era.
"There is still no overarching law guarantee­ing Americans control over what photos are taken of them, what is written about them, or what is done with their personal data," Kashmir Hill writes.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In our fragmented health care system, access to information may be the biggest risk

Jul 20, 2023
In "Fragmented," Dr. Ilana Yurkiewicz writes about health care providers' struggles to access medical information and how it impacts patients.
"Our electronic medical records are extremely disorganized," said Dr. Ilana Yurkiewicz, who discusses the time doctors waste searching for patient information in her book "Fragmented."
Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images

In "Easy Money," crypto's central premise is put to the test

Jul 18, 2023
The cryptocurrency industry seeks to create a decentralized, peer-to-peer means of exchange, but is it really just a speculative bubble?
"Cryptocurrencies are not currencies, economically speaking, because they don't do what money does," says actor and author Ben McKenzie.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

In "Black Folk," the history of the Black working class is a family story

Jun 14, 2023
Historian Blair LM Kelley traces that evolution through her own family roots.
According to historian Blair LM Kelley, as Black women moved to Northern cities during the Great Migration, many found domestic work that took them away from their families — but led to the creation of new communities. Above, a woman and child in Harlem, New York City, in 1946.
Eric Schwab/AFP via Getty Images

"Bootstrapped": The self-made myth and the “dystopian social safety net” it created

Apr 3, 2023
Journalist Alissa Quart says America’s myths about self-reliance have overshadowed the roles that communities play in financial success.
Warming centers, like this one set up in a Boston train station in February, are part of the "dystopian social safety net," author Alissa Quart says.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

In "American Ramble," a 26-day walk reveals a "profoundly different" nation

Mar 28, 2023
Neil King Jr. reflects on his history-rich journey from Washington, D.C., to New York City.
On his journey from Washington, D.C., to New York, Neil King Jr. passed through Pennsylvania farmland and absorbed impressions of American history.
Brandon Eastwood/AFP via Getty Images

The Federal Reserve's economic policy powers might be limitless, but should they?

Feb 27, 2023
In her book "Limitless," New York Times reporter Jeanna Smialek asks how the Fed arrived at this powerful state.
"[Fed Chair Jerome] Powell and his colleagues knew, even as business news channels cheered on the forceful March 23 response that morning, that it would open his institution up to political criticism and possible mission creep," writes Jeanna Smialek in her new book. Above, Powell during an interview on Feb. 7.
Julia Nikhinson/Getty Images

How #MeToo and boardroom politics collided with the Redstone media empire

Feb 13, 2023
Rachel Abrams and James B. Stewart report how CBS, and Sumner Redstone’s media empire, became center stage for an epic #MeToo moment.
"Unscripted" by James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams is both a tale of corporate intrigue and a family drama that revolve around CBS and the Redstone media empire.
Andrew Burton/Getty Images