Popular Culture and Political Economic Thought

Thomas Strychacz is Frederick A. Rice Professor of English at Mills College at Northeastern University.

Thomas Strychacz writes eloquently on the intersection of political economy and popular culture. Moving gracefully across a wide variety of texts—from novels to musicals to online games—Strychacz revisits some of the prevailing economic fables through a series of innovative, thought-provoking readings. Could popular culture really help us save our planet and imagine a better future? This timely and indispensable book poses all of the right questions.

• Chapter 1: The Political Economy of Potato Farming on Mars in Andy Weir’s The Martian Chapter 2: Virtual Commonwealths of the Great Recession: The Obamas’ Garden and Farm Management GamesChapter 3: Life in the Wilds: Plots of Polity in Harriet Martineau and Survivor Chapter 4: Challenging the Privilege of Again: Recursive Plots of Polity in Octavia Butler’s Dawn and Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight RobberChapter 5: “Should’ve kept better care of her”: The Political Economy of Joss Whedon’s Firefly Chapter 6: Feast Fables: The Bioeconomics of Turkeys and Roast Beast Chapter 7: Yak Burgers and Black Tea: Consumption, Deprivation, and the Literature of Himalayan Adventure TravelChapter 8: Histories, Hedgestories, and Herdstories: Beast Fables and Paleo Polities in Recent Animated Movies