Most of the tenets that helped capitalism take root and thrive in California two centuries ago are still in place today. The Golden State didn’t invent venture capital, incubators for young talent or higher education partnerships, but just like chardonnay and cannabis, these are concepts we improved upon and commodified for export.
It’d be simplistic to describe author and critic Malcolm Harris as a contrarian. In previous books, he punched holes in the stereotype that millennials are coddled crybabies (“Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials”) and demanded that we reexamine our assumptions about American exceptionalism (“Shit Is Fucked Up and Bullshit: History Since the End of History”).
In his latest book, “Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the …
