Dr. Alison Collis Greene recently discussed her book No Depression in Heaven: The Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Transformation of Religion in the Delta (Oxford University Press, 2015) on the Monthly Review podcast Money on the Left. Greene is Associate Professor in the Candler School of Theology and Associated Faculty in the History Department. Read the summary of the episode below and find both the audio and transcript at “No Depression in Heaven with Alison Collis Greene.”

In this episode of Money on the Left, we speak with historian Alison Collis Greene about her book No Depression in Heaven with an eye toward contemporary debates around the Green New Deal. Subtitled The Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Transformation of Religion in the Delta, Greene’s book critiques what she calls the “myth of the redemptive depression” which, particularly in the American south, eroded the legacy of the original New Deal by affirming regressive fantasies of self-help and individualism. 

Many on the left today see the “New Deal” framing of contemporary social and ecological politics as a concession to liberal nostalgia. However, No Depression in Heaven reminds us that right-wing and religious dismissals of the New Deal played a key part in rolling back government provisioning under neoliberalism. From our perspective, then, the original New Deal remains a crucial rhetorical battleground for the future of American political economy.  

Dr. Joseph Crespino, History Department Chair and Jimmy Carter Professor of History, was recently a featured guest on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s show Political Rewind. The special edition show, which is hosted by Bill Nigut, was titled “Our Polarized Politics, How Did We Get Here?” Read a summary of the show below and listen to the full conversation at GPB’s Political Rewind.

“Today on Political Rewind, Republicans have called the impeachment investigation of President Trump a Democratic witch hunt. Two decades ago, Democrats attacked the impeachment of President Clinton with similar fury.

Efforts to impeach a president may reveal the deep partisan divide that cleaves our country in two, but the growth of political polarization began long before Clinton and Trump came on the scene.

Today, we’ll look at key moments in American history that revealed the sharpness of our partisan divide, and propelled it forward.”