Erik Baker
@erikmbaker.bsky.social
Historian at Harvard, senior editor at The Drift, author of Make Your Own Job erikmbaker.com
created May 10, 2023
4,249 followers 348 following 335 posts
view profile on Bluesky Posts
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reposted
A beautiful, insightful conversation among a few of our editors about how the experience of growing up as the child of immigrants has evolved over the 21st century – check it out! newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/a-changing...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
A beautiful, insightful conversation among a few of our editors about how the experience of growing up as the child of immigrants has evolved over the 21st century – check it out! newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/a-changing...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Finally finished one of my summer projects, watching the whole M:I series for the first time
Nathan Tankus (@nathantankus.bsky.social) reposted
I will issue Tankus bucks which will be receivable in payment for Notes on the Crises events, NOTC Manhattan office sublets, Notes on the Crises subscriptions and future NOTC merchandise if the people demand it.
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
The most reliable store of value is now preorders of @nathantankus.bsky.social's book
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
I had this thought recently and then literally laughed out loud when I remembered The Horrors. Solidarity with everyone else going through this world ambiently bummed out
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Much like the Windows 95 operating system I was born thirty years ago today
J.A.Tallon (@tallon.bsky.social) reposted
Gene Kelly in "The Young Girls of Rochefort" - BOTD
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Seems bad
Natalie (@nataliesnotinit.bsky.social) reposted
Big Thief lyrics: Your heart is like a knish Unfurling in the vastness of the galaxy And you granted my wish Like a cosmic potato genie MJ Lenderman lyrics: I am Fat Bastard, and I am Mini-Me I'm a real disappointment, like Austin Powers 3
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
My whole body is sore today but I did something I've wanted to do ever since I moved to New England!
American Prestige (@amprestigepod.bsky.social) reposted
Bonus - Is Economics a Science? w/ @erikmbaker.bsky.social Danny chats with Erik Baker about his new article reviewing the “science critique of economics.” Plus, they talk a bit about the history of nuclear science. Link in the replies!
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
In her Issue Fifteen Dispatch, @aywarhiannon.bsky.social explains why we need to wield the First Amendment “in service of our most powerful formation: the collective.” www.thedriftmag.com/collective-p...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
thank you!!
John Carl Baker (@johncarlbaker.bsky.social) reposted
Excellent (and critical) @erikmbaker.bsky.social review of two recent nuclear-focused books: "today’s atomic ambassadors seem determined to insist that whatever destructive forces their field has unleashed are ultimately someone else’s problem" www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
This piece also explains what I see as the central paradox of contemporary advocacy for nuclear energy: it's presented as a hack to solve climate change while otherwise preserving business as usual, but business as usual makes it absolutely impossible
Peacenotwar (@peacenotwar2024.bsky.social) reposted
“…there is expert consensus that atmospheric nuclear testing was responsible for, at minimum, tens of thousands of cancer cases in the US alone, since fallout did not merely settle in an innocuous even layer around the globe; it was more acutely concentrated in communities near testing sites.”
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reposted
For @newstatesman.com I reviewed a pair of new books on nuclear science, both of which, in different ways, try to wash their hands of politics www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
The New Statesman (@newstatesman.com) reposted
"The Manhattan Project self-evidently played no role whatsoever in the defeat of Hitler." Inside the history of nuclear science 🖊️ Erik Baker
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
For @newstatesman.com I reviewed a pair of new books on nuclear science, both of which, in different ways, try to wash their hands of politics www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Terrific piece that is a perfect complement to my essay on the subject last year, highlighting a range of perversities I couldn't begin to touch on (or even anticipate...)
Tyler (@electriceden92.bsky.social) reposted
A fantastic essay that also links to another fantastic new-to-me essay by @erikmbaker.bsky.social, that highlights New Atheism's history as an effective rebranding of the deterministic, crypto-eugeniscist defense of sociobiology/evopsych defector.com/the-ghosts-o...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks!
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
I have a new paper in History of Political Economy that is now available to read for free online. It's about what we can and can't learn from studying – and criticizing – economics using the methods of the history of science. read.dukeupress.edu/hope/article...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Today is the 80th anniversary of one of the most momentous atrocities of modern times. Proud to lend my voice to this valuable @aljazeera.com analysis. www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Exceedingly well-deserved recognition! You can check out my appearance here podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
Will Mason (@willmasonmusic.com) reposted
Every rich person is going to tell *you* how great AI teaching is while sending *their* kids to the kind of schooling the Ancient Greeks would recognize. I just wish everyone would think about why that is.
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Lovely Q&A in our newsletter today with Sasha Debevec-McKenney about her great new poetry collection! newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/the-poem-i...
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
“If anti-Semitism is the proverbial socialism of fools,” Becca Rothfeld writes in Issue Fifteen, “then rage against the twentysomething groundlings who work at an Australian skincare company is the socialism of morons.” www.thedriftmag.com/a-bureaucrat...
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
Ever wonder how a Drift cover comes together? Our print designer Ivy Sanders Schneider explains the process – and how she reenvisions designs from early 20th century socialist magazines for the present day. newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/the-making...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
We've got a fun piece in the newsletter today from our print designer on how we move from Masses/Liberator covers to Drift covers newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/the-making...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
A quick podcast episode with the great @llassabe on MYOJ and the early history of graduate business education americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com/2396665/epis...
Ed Morrish (@edmorrish.bsky.social) reposted
my new ai device will sit in a beer garden that backs onto a small river and drink three to five pints on a sunny late summer afternoon for you, leaving you free for more meetings and business calls
stylo [air max] 90 (@stylo.bsky.social) reposted
very important read and follow @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social who is one of those who Gets It
jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) reposted
as correct as michael is here this is the inverse of how it works in the world of elite commentary, where a willingness to entertain race science somehow makes you more credible for your "heterodoxy" (see: charles murray)
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
“I don’t know why people are so bent out of shape about hope,” @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social tells us. “Hope is great.” Read the interview from Issue Fifteen today. www.thedriftmag.com/politics-is-...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Feels impossible to sum up Ozzy in anything less than a song, so I'll give you this one about him by @themountaingoats.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbEB...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Absolutely insane and disgraceful to the entire university www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Great interview about one of the most exciting new novels of the year!
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
I did not see this when it first came out, but I just learned the press put out a Q&A with me that I quite enjoyed doing, so I wanted to share. www.hup.harvard.edu/features/beh...
Nathan Kalman-Lamb (@nkalamb.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
"Footage [from Gaza] shows three young boys standing and eating amid a pile of rubbish on the street, picking scraps from the refuse. Another clip showed a child opening a bag of rubbish on the street, rummaging through it in search of anything to eat." www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
“We’ve reached the limits of what moral outrage can do without material political power backing it up,” @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social tells us in a new interview from Issue Fifteen. www.thedriftmag.com/we-will-not-...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
As the prophecy foretold
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
"Love your neighbor, but don't go overboard" - Jesus Christ
Larry Glickman (@larryglickman.bsky.social) reposted
Tyler said this in a podcast hosted by Bari Weiss about how extremist and radical the progressive left has gotten.
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Not strictly speaking false
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
My sincerest thanks to an anonymous airport bookstore worker comrade
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Holy shit lol
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Just profoundly evil
Pluto Press (@plutopress.bsky.social) reposted
“I think we can move a little more slowly from a diagnosis that elite capture is at play in some political area to a decision about what we should do about it.” @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social author of Elite Capture, interviewed by @thedrift-mag.bsky.social www.thedriftmag.com/politics-is-...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
I am making a special one-night-only NYC appearance for this event! Please swing by and say hi
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
An aspiring vampire, dripping wreckage, “benign silliness,” lights fit for a starlet, and America’s Marquis de Sade –– read Issue Fifteen Mentions from Aaron Labaree, @cryinmeehan.bsky.social, Mark Steinbach, Nicki Klar, and Noa Wesley. www.thedriftmag.com/mention/issu...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks to everyone who has given me very helpful advice about how to make this site more useable! I appreciate it even if my productivity perhaps does not
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
It's so good lol
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Claire did you know that "Dennis" derives from "Dionysus"?? I learned this a week or two ago and I haven't been able to think about anything else since
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Good advice, thank you!
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
The net result, however, has just been less time spent on social media overall, which is surely a good thing
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Spending more time on here as the other site becomes totally unusable but this kind of nihilistic Dem-chauvinist bullshit is *everywhere* and it makes it really challenging
karl rove knausgård (@uhactually.bsky.social) reposted
Ned Resnikoff (@resnikoff.bsky.social) reposted
I continue to think that American right-wing evangelicalism is evolving away from Nicene Christianity into a new thing. I don't mean that in the "no true Scotsman" sense, as if Christians can't believe bad and toxic things. I mean these guys are literally adopting a new fundamental creed.
Rhiannon (@aywarhiannon.bsky.social) reposted
When I hear Noah Feldman et al talking about how the first amendment “protects disagreeable/hateful/abhorrent speech” and *nothing else* I realize why I have headaches associated with jaw clenching and teeth gnashing Wrote about it in @thedrift-mag.bsky.social www.thedriftmag.com/collective-p...
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
“The two kinds of people are those who have heard the news and those who haven’t,” Owen Park writes in Issue Fifteen. “One kind is not better than the other; in the end, they’re just different.” Read the full short story online now. www.thedriftmag.com/dear-lilling...
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
A cock-rock politician, anti-tech tech guys, eight women boxers, a squashed typeface, and the sounds of monastic life — read five Issue Fifteen mentions from Page Berger, @zoeguttenplan.bsky.social, Kate Petsche, Aaron Gonsher, and Chris Phillips. www.thedriftmag.com/mention/issu...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
I went on the American Prestige podcast to talk about Make Your Own Job and the "Americanness" of entrepreneurialism. americanprestige.supportingcast.fm/listen/ameri...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Terrific review!
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Let's go!!! So proud of the work our contributors and editorial team put into this one, and so excited to have it out in the world in physical form
Harper’s Magazine (@harpers.bsky.social) reposted
“Of all the various isms proposed to capture Trump’s ideology, social Darwinism has perhaps the most explanatory power.” @erikmbaker.bsky.social for Easy Chair.
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
“From the perspective of predatory capital, certain rural and metro areas look the same: easy to exploit,” writes @nickbowlin.bsky.social in Issue Fifteen: www.thedriftmag.com/easy-to-expl...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
"Oh, okay" - Nathan Fielder
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
“We’re seeing a personalist, patrimonial form of rule in which the leader is not being checked in any discernible way,” Nikhil Pal Singh told us in an Issue Fifteen interview. www.thedriftmag.com/losing-any-c...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Everything else aside, Trump has inaugurated a politics where the concept of "scandal" no longer makes much sense. If Charles Foster Kane were caught in a love nest with "singer" today, he'd still win handily.
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
The passage of this bill is the ultimate triumph of Trumpian social Darwinism at its most naked harpers.org/archive/2025...
Rhiannon (@aywarhiannon.bsky.social) reposted
I’m in Issue 15 of The Drift @thedrift-mag.bsky.social on collective action and the First Amendment www.thedriftmag.com/collective-p...
Scott Lemieux (@lemieuxlgm.bsky.social) reposted
Glad to see the incomparable Becca Rothefeld write the "why misogynists are freaking out over women with normal jobs on TikTok" essay the nation has long needed. Roll over Ross Douthat and tell Patrick Deneen the news www.thedriftmag.com/a-bureaucrat...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Some extremely prophetic stuff in here, check it out www.thedriftmag.com/we-will-not-...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
But New York Cares (got to be some more change in my life)
Moira Donegan (@moiradonegan.bsky.social) reposted
Loved this, on the symbolism of right wing misogyny and sexism as a "socialism of fools," from the always impressive Becca Rothfeld. www.thedriftmag.com/a-bureaucrat...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks Zack!
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
More reflections and a guide to the issue from us here www.thedriftmag.com/editors-note...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Five years ago today, the launch of this magazine changed my life. Now, we're sharing our brand-new fifteenth issue. I think it's one of the best we've ever done. I hope you read it, and I'm endlessly grateful for all the support that's brought us here. www.thedriftmag.com/issue/issue-...
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
Issue Fifteen is here –– five years to the day from our launch in 2020!
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Thank you!!
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
A recurring character in the last chapters of Make Your Own Job –– an important mascot for the entrepreneurial work ethic in the late twentieth century, much mythologized for his ability to elicit voluntary overwork from (non-union) employees
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
For the weekend readers, resharing my new piece in @harpers.bsky.social on social Darwinism and Trumpian ideology harpers.org/archive/2025...
Litsa Dremousis (@litsadremousis.bsky.social) reposted
This is one of the best short stories I've ever read. "My Mother's Husbands" by Mariah Kreutter for The Drift @thedrift-mag.bsky.social
The Drift (@thedrift-mag.bsky.social) reposted
“I was eating a garden tomato over the sink when Mom told me Dad was dying.” In our first fiction preview from Issue 15, Mariah Kreutter tackles mortality and mommy issues. www.thedriftmag.com/my-mothers-h...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
Our first piece of fiction from the new issue is out today – a terrific story about moms, dads, and death by Mariah Kreutter www.thedriftmag.com/my-mothers-h...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks for sharing!
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
I confess that I was proud of this one
Kevin Rothrock (@kevinrothrock.me) reposted
Sharp article from @erikmbaker.bsky.social in @harpers.bsky.social on how Trump represents more than one fiend's grip on the country: Trump's charm with Americans reflects the resurgence of social Darwinism, an ugly ideology lurking at the heart of U.S. hegemony. harpers.org/archive/2025...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social)
With the humidity at these levels there really isn't much to be done except listen to early @themountaingoats.bsky.social songs, way more of which than you might think are about it being extremely humid
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reposted
For the July issue, I took my first seat in the @harpers.bsky.social Easy Chair, with a piece on social Darwinism and the America that produced Trump harpers.org/archive/2025...
aohsu (@aohsusometimesy.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Spurred to this line of questioning by Erik Baker's great Easy Chair essay, tracing plainly-in-sight throughline of Trump's ideology. bsky.app/profile/erik...
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Thank you, Bonnie!!
Bonnie Honig (@bonniehonig.bsky.social) reposted
“He comes by his social Darwinism the way most people come by any ideology: by living in a world that makes it seem obvious.” Great line. Great apercu
Erik Baker (@erikmbaker.bsky.social) reply parent
Yes! It's a tremendous book - Bridget and I chatted about the connections while we were both still at work on the respective manuscripts
Joseph Morris (@morris.cloud) reposted
This is worth the time to read. A fatalism around Darwinism, that makes it impossible for us to have good things, seems to me as one of the most foundational philosophical/ideological mistakes that western society makes.