Link to full text:
https://davidbussellarchive.substack...s-and-americas
Trust busting, automated cigarette rollers, global shakeups of power, Andrew Carnegie, and why the 1950s Topps Mickey Mantle cards may just be the center of the universe!!
Join us on this new episode of exploring the rise of American civilization and empire through the lens of the baseball card -- tracing the onset of global modernity from T206 to the monopolistic, singular glory of the iconic Topps sets of the 50s and 60s. We'll talk about why the Topps baseball cards of the 1950s in particular say something about America that make them akin to live artifacts of the peak of Greek or Roman culture; how baseball cards are the lens for America's real cultural, political, and social stakes to express themselves and visualize a better, bigger, brighter future.