Who makes history happen after all? Was our world built by and for the powerful few, and if so, what can the rest of us do about it?

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Anthony Comegna

Anthony Comegna received his M.A. (2012) and Ph.D. (2016) in history from the University of Pittsburgh, where he specialized in early American, intellectual, and Atlantic history. His dissertation, “The Dupes of Hope Forever:” The Loco-​Foco or Equal Rights Movement, 1820s-​1870s, revives the submerged and forgotten legacy of locofocoism. Anthony has taught undergraduate courses in American history and Western Civilization. He produces regular historical content for Lib​er​tar​i​an​ism​.org and is the writer/​host of Liberty Chronicles. He currently works at the Institute for Humane Studies as the Academic Programs Design Manager.

 

From the ancient origins of their craft, historians have used their work to defend established and powerful interests and regimes. In the modern period, though, historians have emphasized the agency and impact of everyday, average people—common people—without access to conventional political power. Monopoly & King Mob provides readers with dozens of documents from the Early Modern and Modern periods to suggest that the best history is that which accounts for change both “from above” and “from below” in the social hierarchy. When we think of history as the grand timeline of states, politicians, military leaders, great business leaders, and elite philosophers, we skew our view of the world and our ideas about how it works.