Blues for America: A Critique, A Lament, and Some Memories

Blues for America combines an historical critique of the “American Century” with journalistic reports and personal anecdotes. Doug Dowd, an economics professor and long-time troublemaker, traces the socioeconomic history of our country decade by decade in a style reminiscent of Dos Passos’ U.S.A. Blues for America is an engrossing read, filled with incisive observations and biting humor.

A keen observer and storyteller, Dowd was also a participant in this history. His personal stories include: a behind the scenes description of a battleship photo-op for General MacArthur during World War II; Cornell University faculty-board meetings at the height of the McCarthy era, where some decidedly nonprofessional remarks fly; travels through Vietnam and Laos with Noam Chomsky in 1970, where he unexpectedly discovers Ross Perot; and many others. Blues for America makes FDR, the Depression, Ike, Korea, Vietnam, and all the movements of the 1960s vividly real for readers of all ages.

Doug Dowd is Lecturer in International Economics at Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy. He was a national figure in the movement to end the Vietnam War and was Chair of the Economics Department at Cornell University in the 1960s. He has taught at the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Cruz; San Jose State and San Francisco Universities. He was a recipient of Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships and is the author of several books including The Waste of Nations: Dysfunction in the World Economy, The Twisted Dream: Capitalist Development in the United States Since 1776, and Modern Economic Problems in Historical Perspective.